On the Japanese ProblemExcerpts from Japanese Immigration and Colonization
by V. S. McClatchy, July 27, 1921
OUR NEW RACIAL PROBLEM.JAPANESE
IMMIGRATION AND ITS MENACE -- STARTLING RESULTS OF CONGRESSIONAL
INQUIRY -- WHY JAPAN'S "PEACEFUL PENETRATION" OF CONTINENTAL UNITED
STATES? -- USING AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP TO FOSTER JAPAN'S PLANS -- THE
BIRTH RATE AS AN AGENCY FOR COLONIZATION -- CONTROL OF LANDS AND
LOCALITIES IN CALIFORNIA -- COLONIZATION IN OTHER STATES.
In
the statement made by V. S. McClatchy before the House Committee on
Immigration and Naturalization during its hearings in California in
July 1920, in connection with the subject of Japanese immigration, was
included much interesting and startling and therefore unpublished
matter casting light on various phases of the problem which is now
receiving not only State but national attention.
From a
digest of that statement it appears that the economic question of today
will develop into a grave racial problem, unless the proper remedy be
at once applied;
that the Japanese have determined to colonize
favorable sections of the United States, and permanently establish
their race in this country;
that they openly preach their plans of
peaceful penetration, "get more land and beget many children," as the
most certain method of accomplishing the purpose;
that in so doing they
do not contemplate assimilating as American citizens, loyal to the
country of their birth or adoption, but plan to serve the ambition of
Japan in world subjection as taught in her religion and in her schools;
that American-born Japanese on whom we confer citizenship are being
trained here and in Japan to use their American citizenship for the
glory of the Mikado and the benefit of the Japanese race;
that through
violations of the "gentlemen's agreement," the Japanese have increased
manyfold in this country, while the declared intent of the agreement
was to restrict Japanese immigration as the exclusion act restricted
Chinese immigration;
that the Japanese birth rate per thousand in
California, now three times that of the whites, exists in face of the
fact that the proportion of adult females among the Japanese is less
than one-third as great as among the whites;
that such birth rate will
be very greatly increased if success attends the efforts of the
Japanese to bring in a large number of females;
that orientals, largely
Japanese, already control, through ownership or lease, one-sixth of the
rich irrigated lands of the State, and, in some of the larger counties,
have control of a majority acreage of such lands;
that the results as
to Japanese control already secured in Hawaii, and fast developing in
California, are contemplated in other States as shown by preliminary
colonization;
and that American missionary and church influence is
being exerted in belief of Japanese propaganda and this Japanese
program, in the mistaken behalf that Japan in return will aid or
encourage Christian evangelization of the Japanese here and in Japan.
The
statement, of which the following is a digest, supplements other
statements on the subject made during the year preceding by V. S.
McClatchy, before the committees of Congress and in public print, and
generally avoids repetition of matter contained in such previous
statements.
THE JAPANESE PROBLEM BEFORE THE HOUSE IMMIGRATION COMMITTEE.
The
following article contains the important parts of a statement made
before the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization in
connection with the subject of Japanese immigration by V. S. McClatchy,
publisher of the Sacramento Bee, at hearings held by the committee in
Sacramento, Calif., on July 13 and 14, 1920. In preparation of the
article from the original transcript of the hearing there have been
omitted repetition of facts and deductions, and, so far as seemed
desirable, the dialogue with members of the committee which elicited
the facts. In this way brevity has been served without impairing the
value of the article.
Mr.
Chairman, and members of the House Committee on Immigration and
Naturalization, my first appearance before the House Immigration
Committee in connection with the subject of Japanese immigration was in
June, 1919 -- not in person, but by a written statement hurriedly
prepared and mailed at telegraphed suggestion of the chairman. The
statement was in answer to the claims of Sidney L. Gulick, the most
prominent opponent of Japanese exclusion, who asked your committee to
approve a certain measure (fathered by his League for Constructive
Immigration Legislation), which proposes to regulate immigration on a
percentage basis, and to extend to all Asiatics the same privileges as
immigrants and citizens as are accorded Europeans. In September, 1919,
I appeared before the committee personally and made a more
comprehensive showing of the grave danger to the Nation threatened by
Japanese immigration even under existing conditions.
Statements
made by me at that time have been severely criticized both to facts and
deductions by advocates of the Japanese, and particularly by Mr.
Gulick, who has issued and widely circulated, under the authority of
the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, two leaflets
devoted largely to an attempt to discredit those statements.
My
present statement before your committee is supplemental to, and should
be considered in conjunction with, that previous statement, since it
avoids, as far as possible, repetition of matter contained in the
other. It is intended to answer conclusively the arguments and
statements since put forth by Mr. Gulick and other proponents of
Japanese immigration, and contains in addition a mass of valuable and
unpublished matter secured, in large part, from Japanese sources. In
the preparation of this statement care has been taken to secure
authenticated facts and to draw deductions which can not be assailed
with justice.
I view the Japanese themselves without
prejudice, and do not even suggest that there is involved in the
present problem any question of racial inferiority. The problem at
present, I insist, is an economic one, due to certain advantages
possessed by the Japanese in economic competition, and to their
determined utilization of those advantages in securing permanent place
for their race in this country through their systematized plan of
peaceful penetration.
But I insist also that continuance of
existing conditions is developing, and will in time make certain a
racial problem of most grave character.
THE PAST YEAR'S INVESTIGATION.
Since
my appearance before the committee, nearly a year ago, the Pacific
coast generally has awakened to a realization of the gravity of the
situation, and there has been a deal of investigation, some of it on
the part of eastern newspapers and periodicals. I might mention in that
connection, The Country Gentleman, which sent Freeman Tilden, a New
England writer, to the Pacific coast to make a special investigation of
the problem. In the issues of that periodical of May 1, 8, 15, and 29,
1920, you will find the result of those observations.
Sentiment
on the coast has crystallized. The California State Board of Control,
under instructions from the State legislature, has been securing data
for a year past, and has prepared a preliminary report for the
governor. That report has gone to the Secretary of State at Washington
and to the public, with a very strong letter from Gov. Stephens,
calling attention to the facts, to the urgency of the menace which they
indicate and urging that the matter be taken up with our friend, Japan,
in order that a speedy adjustment, which will preserve the country for
the white race and maintain our friendly relations with Japan, may be
had.
This report of the board of control, with its
introductory letter by Gov. Stephens, furnishes a comprehensive review
of the Japanese problem as presented in California, and is the most
convincing document which has been offered, partly because of its
official character, and partly because of the fair manner in which the
presentation has been made. I can not too strongly indorse and praise
the manner in which that work has been done. That report, as I
understand, is before your committee, and I shall refer to it only in
instances where it corroborates and substantiates the various matters
which I shall place before you.
It is no small gratification
to me, who am in certain phases of this question a pioneer, to see that
the various investigations made, official and nonofficial, not only
fully confirm the statements which I had the honor to make to your
committee in September, 1919, but show that the danger is, if anything,
greater and more immediate than I represented then.
POINTS ESTABLISHED BY EVIDENCE.
May I ask you to consider carefully, as the facts are developed, how conclusively they establish these points:
1. The practical impossibility of assimilating the Japanese, or making good and dependable American citizens out of them.
2.
The determination with which they are bent on making a permanent place
for themselves in this country through their methods of peaceful
penetration, and notwithstanding any objection we may have thereto.
3. The hopelessness of any attempt by Americans to meet them in economic competition or in birth rate.
4.
The certainty that, unless protective measures are at once adopted,
they will secure control of the country, first through economic
competition and finally through force of numbers.
5. The
criminal wisdom of permitting any foreign nation, however friendly, to
be the sole judge of what immigration shall be admitted to our land.
That is our present policy with Japan.
6. The absolute
necessity, along the line of self-preservation, of applying the same
exclusion policy as to Japanese that has been effective for years in
regard to Chinese.
7. The imperative necessity of applying the remedy now, while we can.
DETERMINED TO COLONIZE.
As
to the second point, the determination of the Japanese to secure a
footing in this country, through peaceful penetration regardless of our
objections thereto, let me ask careful consideration by the committee
of Exhibit Z [NOTE: Exhibits not included in this paper], extract from the Sacramento Bee of October 22,
1919, in which appeared a translation of an article published a few
days before in Shin Sekai, The New World, a Japanese newspaper of San
Francisco. The article is called forth by the opposition in California
to Japanese immigration, and increase of Japanese population through
"picture brides," etc. Following are a few sentences quoted from the
article:
"When we of the Yamato race arise with a mighty
resolve, their (the Americans') option will be as futile as an attempt
to sweep the sea with a broom."
"We should advance, and not
recede. To stop is to retreat. While we push forward boldly the enemy
has no chance to form plans.... These maxims are suitable for the
present situation."
"Even if photograph marriages should be
prohibited, we can not be stopped from leaving our descendants on this
American Continent. Even if not a single Japanese woman comes, it is
not possible to prevent the seed of our great Yamato race from being
sown in this American Continent by marriages with Americans, with
French, with Indians, and with Negroes; especially since there already
are 100,000 Japanese here, and 5,000 children are born annually."
"Supposing
we Japanese were prohibited from owning or cultivating land .... If we
can not conveniently do so in California, we shall go to other States
and devise some plan. Even the laws of California are not forever
unchangeable."
"The day will come when the real strength of the Japanese will make a clean sweep of all laws."
"Even the Kaiser's Empire was destroyed when its time came."
"What can Phelan and Inman (leaders of the anti-Japanese movement) .... do to stop the forward movement of our Yamato race?"
THE "CONSTRUCTIVE IMMIGRATION" BILL.
Let
me call to your attention briefly the claims of Sidney Gulick and other
friends and proponents of the Japanese, as presented to the American
public.
Mr. Gulick, since I first opposed his demands on
behalf of Japanese immigration, in June, 1919, has been steadily giving
ground, when he found that ground absolutely untenable. He withdrew
from his proposed constructive immigration bill, one by one, several
ridiculous provisions to which attention had been called -- the
grandfather clause, which, by the importation of a few thousand
octogenarians who could send for all their blood relatives would have
opened our gates to an unlimited number of Japanese; the student
provision, under which any number of laborers could have come over as
students, and gone to work at once in our fields, without any power on
the part of our Government under the bill to prevent it; the religious
persecutee clause, which opened our gates to anyone claiming religious
persecution. Let me add that these provisions are also in the bill
introduced in the Senate by Senator Dillingham.
These are a
few of the "jokers" in the original immigration bill under which Mr.
Gulick insisted that Japanese immigration would be materially cut down.
Under the circumstances, it is not strange that I am forced to question
either his good faith or his intelligence. He is still on the retreat,
as noticed in his recent leaflets, but he persists in fighting for what
has always been his real objective, though camouflaged carefully in the
beginning. I refer to that because it is the objective of all the
proponents of the "constructive" immigration bill, and all the
opponents of the views which I present -- the passage of an act which
will approve Mr. Gulick's so-called "New oriental policy," placing
Asiatics on the same plane as to immigration and American citizenship
as European races, and which, under his percentage basis plan, will
admit ten times as many Japanese as Chinese, and a still greater number
of Japanese, as compared with other Asiatics.
It would also
compel us, for each immigrant admitted from France, Holland, Wales, or
Mexico, to admit the following number from each of the respective
countries named: Germany, 60; Ireland, 30; England, 15; Canada, 15;
Russia, 10; Austria, 8; Sweden, 7; Norway, 6; Scotland, 4; Denmark,
Hungary and Switzerland, each 2.
"CRITICISM OF PREVIOUS STATEMENTS."
Mr.
Gulick says that I use unscientific statistics and sensational
exaggerations, and that my statements are so far from the facts that
the "argument for the legislative program (against Japanese
immigration) falls entirely to pieces." He makes that general charge
against my estimate of the Japanese population in California, which
becomes an important factor in various phases of the problem. The
population cuts a figure in the Japanese birth rate in California and
is of importance in connection with statements as to nonassimilability
of the Japanese and as to violations of the "gentlemen's agreement."
He
insists that Japanese own but little land in California; that there is
no evidence that Japanese fail to make good citizens; that increase of
Japanese population under the "gentlemen's agreement" has been only 55
per cent; that picture brides are not as efficient agents of
reproduction as I have represented, and that I have exaggerated the
proportion of Japanese school children in certain Florin districts.
He
attacks the five planks of the anti-Japanese platform as first proposed
by me in June, 1919, and since generally adopted by all enlisted in the
movement, and bases his arguments against them, directly or indirectly,
on his insistence that my statement of facts and statistics are
untrustworthy.
As to each and all of these matters there is
now evidence so complete and so unquestionable in its character as to
readily convince any jury of intelligent and unprejudiced and competent
investigators. So much of that evidence as may be necessary for the
purpose will be laid before your committee.
With the proof
now available that the Japanese population of California is about
100,000, it is evident that such population has been increased about
50,000, most of them laborers, since Japan asked for and secured a
"gentlemen's agreement," because the population prior thereto was less
than 30,000, and births less deaths up to last year, when my statement
was made, were about 20,000, as stated by Mr. Gulick. It is true that
the Japanese population of continental United States is about 150,000
(since Mr. Gulick concedes 50,000 outside of California), and it is
true that the Japanese population of the United States has increased
sixfold since 1900, nearly all under the protection of the "gentlemen's
agreement"; all of which statements of mine were earnestly denied by
Mr. Gulick and apparently disproved by a skillfully selected and
plausibly arranged lot of statistics.
With these suggestions
and the evidence and statistics which are to follow, I feel that those
who have attacked my statements, including Mr. Gulick, are completely
answered.
INCREASE OF JAPANESE POPULATION.HAWAII
ALREADY INUNDATED -- SIXFOLD INCREASE IN CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES IN
20 YEARS -- IN CALIFORNIA, WITH LESS THAN ONE-THIRD PROPORTION OF ADULT
FEMALES, THE JAPANESE HAVE THREE TIMES THE BIRTH RATE OF WHITES --
WHITES FORCED OUT OF SELECTED DISTRICTS -- RESULTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Population
is a very important factor in the problem you are to consider. First,
as to total Japanese population. The number in Hawaii is conceded to be
between 112,000 and 120,000, out of a total population of all races,
say, of 250,000. I haven't seen the census figures. These are estimates
from the Secretary of the Interior and the Hawaiian Board of Education
and other official sources. But more than 50 per cent of births and
more than 50 per cent of new school registrations in Hawaii are
Japanese.
The Japanese have already in Hawaii four times as
many as the Chinese or Hawaiians or Portuguese or other whites, and
within 20 years will cast more votes, as American-born citizens, than
all other races combined.
In continental United States,
outside of California, Sidney Gulick concedes that my estimate of
50,000 Japanese is correct. In California, where I have estimated
100,000 -- say 25,000 children, 60,000 adult males, and 15,000 adult
females -- Gulick insists that there are not more than 72,000 or
73,000, and on that difference of 30,000 he hangs his argument through
several pages of his pamphlets as to a number of different points.
These arguments all fall to the ground if I am right and he is wrong,
and that has been demonstrated.
Mr. Gulick and others have
based their demonstration as to the number of Japanese in California on
the theory that there are none in the State who had not entered
legally, and that the population, according to the census of 1910, with
allowance for arrivals and departures and births and deaths since, as
furnished by the official statistics, would give the present
population. The State board of control in its report, estimating in
this same manner, places the total at 87,279, but explains that this
estimate makes no allowance for the number who have entered the State
surreptitiously. The Japanese Association of America advises the board
of control that a census recently undertaken by the Japanese shows
78,628 in the State and says there are, in addition, about 5,000
California-born Japanese in Japan who will return here.
It
is not generally known that a census taken in California in 1910, by
order of the Japanese Government, showed 53,000 Japanese in this State,
while the United States census enumerated only 41,000. This shortage of
12,000 in the data used by the State board of control (for it took the
United States census of 1910 as basis and added births and legal
recorded entries, and subtracted deaths and departures, to give the
present population) would raise its estimate of the present population
to 99,000 without illegal entries. From this it would appear that an
estimate of the actual Japanese population (including illegal entries)
based on mortuary tables as hereinafter referred to -- of 109,000 -- is
probably not far from correct.
100,000 JAPANESE IN CALIFORNIA.
In
view of the apparent present desire of the Japanese to conceal their
real numbers, the Japanese census of this year can not be accepted as
of much value. In San Diego County, for instance, where the Japanese
originally reported 800 residents, a recount by the United States
census enumerators disclosed 1,200, as published a few months ago. Too
much reliance can not be placed even upon the final figures of the
United States census of 1920, so far as they may indicate the actual
Japanese population of California, in view of the apparent and
determined effort to conceal their real numbers, and the ease with
which, under present conditions and methods, enumeration may be
avoided, and the great error conceded in the 1910 census.
Mr.
L. E. Ross, registrar of the bureau of vital statistics of the State
board of health, gave out on June 7, 1920, his latest figures on
population and birth rate in California, which appeared in the
Sacramento Bee of that date. (Exhibit A.) Mr. Ross's estimate
of the total population of the State in 1919 is 3,234,204, and of that
number he estimates 96,000 Japanese. He states that this estimate of
the Japanese population is based on data secured by the board of
control and from the United States census and the Japanese census, and
includes those who have illegally entered the State.
While
Mr. Ross has thus used 96,000 as his official estimate of the State's
Japanese population, he evidently believes the total to be much higher.
In the current number of the State's monthly Health Bulletin appears an
article by him explaining a method which he has developed for
estimating the population from the known ratio of males and females and
from the established death rate in each sex. Applying this ratio to
determine the present percentage of race distribution in the State, on
the assumption that the entire population is 3,234,299 (his estimate
for 1919), he finds that it gives results as to decrease of Chinese,
slight increase of Indians, and material increase of Negroes, in
accordance with the known facts. The same process indicates a Japanese
population in the State of 109,000.
With the Japanese
population of the State thus fixed conservatively at, say, 100,000, all
the estimates which I have made as to present and future conditions in
this State and in this Nation receive final verification, for this was
the only factor assailed by Mr. Gulick which I was not in position to
establish beyond question.
ESTIMATES OF FUTURE JAPANESE POPULATION.
The
tables heretofore presented by me to this committee indicating the
increase of Japanese population in the United States in the future if
existing conditions continue are now placed beyond criticism. My
estimate of the present population, which was one of the factors, has
been verified by official authority. The birth rate, as will be found
later, has also been verified officially; but it is to be remembered
that in those tables as a factor indicating natural increase due to
births less deaths is used a number one-half as large as what was then
indicated by known instances in certain communities, and apparently
confirmed by the birth rate as published by the State board of health.
The State board of health published for 1918 a birth rate of 62 for
Japanese and 16 and a fraction for whites, but that was based on the
population which the Japanese then said they had in this State --
70,000. The board of health has proved to its satisfaction that the
Japanese were mistaken; that their population was then a great deal
more, and that their birth rate was therefore proportionately smaller.
It must be remembered in connection with the Japanese birth rate in
California that the proportion of males to females is four to one,
while the proportion of males to females among the whites is one to
one. If the Japanese population included females in the same proportion
as the whites have, their birth rate would be multiplied by three or
four. So that my factor of natural increase under conditions outlined
is well below what may be expected.
The tables made by me
showed that if the Gulick plan of percentage immigration were adopted
and admissions confined absolutely to "allotments," eliminating all of
his exceptions -- and the same is true of the Dillingham bill -- the
Japanese population of the United States in 40 years would be
2,000,000, in 80 years 10,000,000, and in 140 years 100,000,000.
Under
the "gentlemen's agreement" the increase of Japanese population
indicated in these tables would be just as inevitable, but would be
accomplished in greater or less time, according to the character and
extent of the violations of the agreement by Japan.
THE FLORIN SCHOOL DISTRICT.
When
I was before the committee in September, 1919, attention was called to
the conditions in the Florin district. I said that in certain sections
the Japanese had entirely displaced the whites in some strawberry and
grape fields, and that the Japanese children were rapidly supplanting
the white children in the schools. Mr. Gulick endeavored to throw
discredit upon my statement by publishing total attendance statistics
for six school districts around Florin. In these six districts he
stated that the white children numbered 517, of whom 209 were under 6
years of age, and that there were 530 Japanese, of whom 292 were under
6.
My statement as to certain sections of the area, which
Mr. Gulick thus consolidates, is entirely true. Three of the school
districts in this section are named, respectively, Enterprise, Sierra,
and Florin. The Sacramento County grand jury, in its report published
May 31, 1920, states that in the Enterprise district out of 46 pupils
17 are Japanese. In the Sierra district out of 64 pupils 40 are
Japanese. The report adds, "There is evidence here of rapid increase of
Japanese to the exclusion of the whites."
In the Florin
district, out of 135 pupils, 85 are Japanese. The report adds, "So
rapidly is the Japanese population growing to the exclusion of the
whites that in a year or two all children in school will consist of
Japanese. The upper and outgoing grades have the only white
enrollment."
The county school superintendent of Sacramento
County reports that in the Florin district there were in the fourth
grade in 1918, 5 Japanese and 9 whites, and in 1920, 13 Japanese and no
whites; in the fifth grade there were in 1918, 6 Japanese and 4 whites,
and in 1920, 14 Japanese and 3 whites. At present there are in the
first and second grades in this district 41 Japanese and 15 whites; in
the third and fourth grades, 35 Japanese and 10 whites; in the sixth,
seventh, and eighth grades, 15 Japanese and 18 whites. It is only in
the higher grades that at present the whites predominate. All the lower
grades in the three districts show a rapid increase in Japanese and an
equally rapid decrease in white attendance.
Even the
statistics quoted by Mr. Gulick show that in a much larger area -- in
six districts about Florin -- the number of Japanese under 21 already
exceed the whites, while among children under 6 years the Japanese
exceed the whites nearly 50 per cent. These figures themselves prove
the rapid displacement of the whites, the great excess of very young
children being peculiarly significant.
THE JAPANESE BIRTH RATE.
The
comparative birth rate per 1,000 of the Japanese becomes a vital factor
in this problem; for, if it be true that though they constitute today
less than one-thirtieth of the population of the State, their birth
rate, notwithstanding the small proportion of females among them, is
three times as great as that of the whites, then it is only a question
of time when they will outnumber the whites. That would be true even if
immigration were to cease entirely. Continue to admit immigration, or
increase the proportion of Japanese females, and the day when the white
race in California will be in the minority will be brought much closer.
In Hawaii it is now at hand. A continuance of existing conditions will
produce in all other States of the Union the result which is looming
above the horizon in California.
When it is remembered that
this prolific race is unassimilable in the great American melting pot,
and invincible in economic competition with our people, the gravity of
the problem is apparent.
The birth rate of the Japanese per
1,000 of population in California, as given by the State board of
health for the year 1918, was nearly four times that of the whites;
that is to say, 62 and a fraction as against 16 and a fraction. These
figures were based, as I explained, however, on the population then
claimed by the Japanese of only 70,000. If we take the official
estimate of the board of health of the Japanese population of 96,000 in
the State, the Japanese birth rate per 1,000 for 1919 becomes, as
announced by the board, 46.44 as against 16.59 for all other races in
the State, including all whites -- that is, nearly 3 to 1.
The
total births in the State in 1919 were 56,521, and the whites were
51,316; so that there were, other than whites, 5,205. Of that 5,205,
4,458 were Japanese, and included in the balance of 747 were all the
other races except the whites and the Japanese -- the Negroes, the Indians
and the Chinese. The Japanese had over six times the number of births
of all other races, aside from whites, in the State of California in
1919.
Mr. TAYLOR. The Japanese that you have in California are middle-age, or below, are they not?
Mr.
MCCLATCHY. The figures show, Mr. Taylor, that of all the Japanese that
came over here in 20 years past, 90 per cent were between 14 and 44
years of age; that is to say, of the mature, of the prolific age.
In
Sacramento City the Japanese a year or so ago claimed 2,580 population,
and the census of the total population now shows 66,000. I am assuming
that no less than 60,000 are white. If that is so, the recorded births
in 1918 and 1919 would indicate that the Japanese birth rate in
Sacramento City is four times that of the whites, provided they have
only 2,500 population. If they have 3,000 population, then the birth
rate of the Japanese in Sacramento City would be three and a third
times that of the whites.
The suggestion is made that this
is an unfair comparison, because the Japanese are in the prolific
period and we are comparing them with, whites who are not all
productive. It you will turn to the report of the State board of
control, page 34, the census of 1910 shows in California, 313,281
married white women under 45 years of age. The number of white births
was 30,893, therefore the parentage percentage among white women of
this age was 9.9. In contrast, the board's report quotes figures
secured in the special census of the Japanese Association of America,
made in 1919, as follows: Total married Japanese women in California,
15,211; number of births, 4,378; parentage percentage 28.8, which is
three times the parentage percentage of the whites in the corresponding
period of life.
The Japanese have been in control in Hawaii
for a long time, and their birth rate, as shown by the official
figures, is 45 or 50 or more in the 1,000, and that includes, you must
remember, a number of old men and women. This, taken with the
probability that the proportion of females will increase, is the most
practical answer to the suggestion that the Japanese birth rate in
California will soon decrease.
WHY JAPANESE PREFER CALIFORNIA.
Mr.
SIEGEL. Have you given any thought to the fact that before long Japan
will have a large part of Siberia, and that, therefore, the drift will
be over there instead of over here?
Mr. MCCLATCHY. The drift
will never be to Siberia as long as the Japanese are encouraged or
permitted to come here. California is the paradise of the Japanese, and
they settle here in preference to any part of the United States, and in
preference to any part of the world. They can make more money, under
more favorable conditions, and with less effort, in California than
anywhere else, and naturally they come here. And, even if there were a
great drift over toward Siberia, it must be remembered that the net
increase of population in Japan each year is said to be 600,000 or
700,000. It would take but a very small proportion of that net
increase, if permitted to come in here, to inundate us in a
comparatively short time. When they have occupied the most desirable
portions of California, they will follow a similar policy as to other
States. They have already commenced.
NUMBER AND OCCUPATION OF IMMIGRANTS.
Mr.
SIEGEL. What about the report introduced yesterday, showing that a
number of Japanese had left this country, from July 1 to June 30,
greater than those that came here?
Mr. MCCLATCHY. I have
this suggestion to offer in regard to that phase of the subject: Let me
say of arrivals and departures, that we are interested in what is
designated in official reports as "immigrant" arrivals and departures;
we are not interested in the "nonimmigrant" arrivals and departures,
since they do not stay here; they are supposed to be tourists,
travelers, students, and they come and go. The "immigrant" arrivals are
permanent that settle and become a part of the population; it is those
in which we are interested.
In view of the enormous increase
of Japanese population in continental United States since 1900, and
particularly since the "gentlemen's agreement" was negotiated, it is
absurd to make a claim as to departures exceeding arrivals in the
aggregate.
Mr. RAKER. Mr. McClatchy, can you segregate these arrivals as to occupation?
Mr.
MCCLATCHY. You will find in the report of the Commissioner of
Immigration for each year a segregation by occupation of all the
Japanese and Chinese, and perhaps other races which have entered. May I
direct the attention of the committee to the fact that, in every one of
those enumerations, will be found a large number of immigrants classed
as laborers. Each year since 1908, according to the official reports,
you will find from 1,000 to 3,000 Japanese laborers have been admitted,
which is in direct violation of the gentlemen's agreement, unless those
laborers were previous residents of the United States -- and all of
them could not have been.
STARTLING INCREASE OF JAPANESE BIRTHS.
In
the report of the board of control at page 34 you will find a very
striking diagrammatic illustration, chart 4. That chart,
interpreted, shows the high number of Japanese births per 100
registered births in 18 of the rich agricultural counties of the State
for the years from 1910 to 1919, that number being nowhere below 10,
and being in certain years above 15 in 11 of the counties, above 20 in
7, above 25 in 2, and above 30 in 1. That is to say, of the entire
number of births in those counties, in some counties, in some years,
the Japanese furnished nearly a third, and nowhere less than a tenth,
and from a tenth it ran up to a third. And this notwithstanding the
great disparity in population between whites and Japanese.
In
these 18 counties the average births of Japanese have risen from 3.2
per cent of the total births in 1910, to 12.3 per cent in 1919; that is
to say, their average proportion of the total has quadrupled in the
past nine years.
In 1910, the Japanese births represented 1
out of every 44 children born in the State. In 1919, nine years later,
the Japanese had 1 out of every 13 born in the State. In the 18
agricultural counties used by the board of control in its chart, which
has s just been considered, the Japanese had 1 out of every 8 children
in 1919. In Sacramento County, outside of Sacramento City, the Japanese
births in 1919 were 49.7 per cent of the total births -- more,
therefore, than the whites, since there were Chinese, Indians, and
Negroes included in the total.
According to the California
school census, the number of Japanese minors in the State in 1919 was
21,611, an increase in the past years of 252 per cent. The Chinese
minors numbered 4,805, showing a decrease in the same period of 17.6
per cent. The white minors in that same period increased 18.5 per cent;
so that the percentage of increase among the Japanese minors in
California during the past nine years is 14 times as great as the
percentage of increase among the whites.
Permit me to
commend to your careful consideration what has happened in Tunisia, in
North Africa. Tunisia is a French protectorate. France, many, many
years ago, tried to make it a French colony, and through force of
special inducements to French emigrants in time was gratified to find
that the French in the colony exceeded all other Europeans in number.
Then, the French Government rested, thinking that its work was well
done. It committed, however, a grave blunder. It admitted a number of
Italian immigrants. The number was small, and cut no figure as compared
with the resident French population. Possibly the Italians were
admitted to do some of the labor which the French preferred not to do.
The stork labored for the Italians, and did not labor for the French,
with the result that the Italians very steadily and rapidly increased
in number, while the French slowly decreased. Today, Tunisia, though
still a French protectorate, is an Italian colony, in which the French
population cuts very little figure. Let us remember, however, in
applying this lesson to our own case, if the time should ever come when
this country, because of the number of immigrants absorbed, and because
of their superior birth rate, has become a Japanese colony, it is
certain that the United States will no longer be able to exercise a
protectorate over it.
A GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT.JAPANESE
LABOR ADMITTED IN QUANTITY AND OUR JAPANESE POPULATION MULTIPLIED
NOTWITHSTANDING THE ANNOUNCED INTENT OF THE AGREEMENT -- JAPAN DECIDES
WHAT IMMIGRANTS SHALL BE ADMITTED BY US -- EVASIONS: LABORERS, PICTURE
BRIDES, "YOSHI," SURREPTITIOUS ENTRIES -- JAPAN'S KNOWLEDGE OF ACTS FOR
WHICH SHE DISCLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY.
The
"gentlemen's agreement" is at the bottom of all the present trouble.
Mr. Gulick and the Japanese insist that it is a very excellent
arrangement, and that its terms have been faithfully kept. The facts,
on the contrary, demonstrate that, so far as concerns the interests of
this Nation and the declared intent of the agreement, it is an
iniquitous arrangement, and its terms have been constantly violated, in
letter and in spirit, by Japan, and not properly enforced by this
country.
The agreement was made at Japan's request, rather
than have the exclusion act made to include the Japanese. It was
supposed to secure, so far as concerns Japanese immigration, and
through the acts of Japan herself, results similar to those which were
secured by the exclusion act against the Chinese. Its terms provided
that Japan was to prevent the importation into continental United
States of Japanese labor, skilled and unskilled, and she afterwards
voluntarily agreed to maintain the same policy as to immigration into
Hawaii. The plan adopted was to admit into continental United States,
even from Hawaii, no Japanese who did not bear Japan's passport, her
word as a gentleman, certifying in effect that his entrance did not
mean the entrance of a laborer.
Gulick, says at page 4 of
his pamphlet, "The New Japanese Agitation -- 1920:"
"Californians were
demanding that the Chinese exclusion laws be applied to Japanese. Japan
wished to avoid the humiliation of such an action, and accordingly made
an arrangement with the United States to stop all new labor
immigration. This is known as the gentlemen's agreement. Her faithful
observance of that agreement has been sufficiently shown by the writer
in another paper."
SURRENDERING OUR POWERS TO JAPANESE.
The
basic difference between the policies of the United States as to
Chinese and Japanese immigration, respectively, is that, in the one
case, we retained absolutely the right to decide the admissibility of
the applicant; in the other case, we surrendered that right entirely to
the other nation, a blunder on the part of a first-class power for
which there can be no possible excuse.
The following
language is from the report of the State board of control:
"The
'gentlemen's agreement,' intended to stop the indirect route of
immigrant labor to continental United States through the Hawaiian
Islands, Philippines, Mexico, Canada, etc., opened, however, the direct
route from Japan to the United States by giving Japan exclusive power
to determine who is eligible for a passport. A Japanese bearing a
passport as a farmer probably cultivates in his own country an area not
exceeding the size of a city lot in America. When he comes here he at
once goes to labor on a farm."
EXCLUSION AND AGREEMENT COMPARED.
The
result of the two methods adopted by the United States for the purpose
of excluding the Chinese and Japanese, respectively, is shown by the
following facts:
According to the board of control report during a
period of a little less than 10 years -- that is, from April 15, 1910,
to December 31, 1919 -- the number of Chinese immigrants admitted to the
State of California under the exclusion act was 11,914, and the number
of emigrants departed was 125, a net increase in Chinese immigration of
789 in those nine years. During the same period under the "gentlemen's
agreement," Japanese immigrants admitted to the State were 32,196, and
the departures 7,110, a net increase in Japanese immigration of 25,086.
That is to say, for every Chinaman admitted under the exclusion act
there were 32 Japanese admitted under the "gentlemen's agreement,"
which, it was understood, would accomplish in the matter of Japanese
immigration the same result as the exclusion act does for the Chinese.
Under
the exclusion act, the Chinese population of continental United States
decreased 50 per cent in the 20 years between 1890 and 1910; that is to
say, from 72,422 to 36,248. Since 1910 it is estimated there has been a
further decrease of 10 per cent. The Japanese, in the same territory,
have multiplied sixfold in the 20 years from 1900 to date; that is,
from 24,326 to 150,000, which is the present estimated population.
It
is true, as Mr. Gulick says, that all of this increase has not been
under operation of the gentlemen's agreement, but that which is not
properly chargeable to the gentlemen's agreement was induced by the
threatened closing of the gates against Japanese immigration on the
demand of the Pacific Coast States. The agreement was adopted in 1907,
and, as will be later shown, is properly chargeable with the
immigration during 1907 and 1908, though Japan did not put it into
operation until July 1, 1908. The Japanese population of continental
United States in 1900 was 24,326, and in 1910 was 72,157, a gain of
47,831. In California the Japanese population in 1900 was 10,151, and
in 1910 was 41,356, quadruple, an increase of 31,205. The total
Japanese immigrant admissions to the United States, including Hawaii,
for the 10 years, 1901 to 1910, inclusive, were, in round figures,
129,000, while the admissions for the years 1901 to 1906, inclusive,
were 77,937. In the absence of exact data on the Japanese population in
1906, I have estimated that if 129,000 total admissions in the 10 years
gave an added population in continental United States of 48,000 in
round numbers, of which a little over five-eighths came to California,
then the total admissions of 77,937 between 1901 and 1906 would have
given an added population in continental United States, in round
numbers, of 29,000, of which California would have received 18,000; so
that it is fair to assume that the Japanese population of California in
1906 was approximately 28,000, and of continental United States was,
say, 53,000.
THE AGREEMENT HAS FAILED.
Clearly,
then, the "gentlemen's agreement," which was intended to prevent
further increase of Japanese labor in this country, has really
permitted the increase of our Japanese population threefold in
continental United States and fourfold in the State of California -- this
on the assumption that the Japanese population of California is over
100,000, as I have already established. And most of the increase is in
the ranks of labor.
So, then, the agreement, whether its
terms have been carried out in good faith or not, has failed to serve
its clearly defined purpose, and, on the contrary, has done, or
permitted, the very thing which it was intended to prevent. Therefore,
it should be abrogated at once, while at the same time there should be
put into force a plan which will accomplish the purpose desired.
VIOLATIONS OF THE AGREEMENT.
The
agreement, however, has been constantly and willfully violated, and
evaded, sometimes on a large scale. The agreement was framed in 1907
following lengthy negotiations, and these were induced on Japan's part
by an agitation in this country for some time previous, for exclusion
of Japanese as well as Chinese. While the agreement was made in 1907,
Japan postponed putting it into effect for a year, until July 1908. In
the two fiscal years 1907 and 1908, while Japan was negotiating the
agreement, and after it had been made but while she deferred putting it
into effect, she rushed over 46,029 Japanese immigrants, nearly all
laborers, of which number 19,774 entered continental United States.
In
other words. Japan asked that our gates be not forcibly closed against
her people, promising that she would herself keep them closed. But
after she had obtained the concession asked for, she held the gates
open for another year; and while, under her plea during negotiations,
we had failed to close the gates, and while she herself held them open
for a year after negotiations had been closed, she rushed through those
gates over 46,000 of her people, the greater portion of whom were of
that class which she had told us would not be permitted to pass through
the gates; and nearly 20,000 of them came into continental United
States, for whose particular protection the agreement was framed.
Politeness
might term that act on the part of Japan an evasion, and not a
violation of a gentleman's word. Mr. Gulick claims it was a legitimate
procedure under the terms of the gentlemen's agreement, and that these
46,000 coming in 1907 and 1908, or the net increase which they added to
the population, should not be charged against the gentlemen's
agreement. On the contrary, I can not see in this action of Japan
anything but a piece of sharp practice, and insist that the 46,000 are
properly chargeable against the agreement. This is a question of
international ethics, which may well be left for decision to any
fair-minded individual.
In 1909 and 1910, immediately after
Japan put the agreement into operation, the total immigrants admitted,
including Hawaii, were 3,100 and 2,730, respectively. Since then the
numbers have steadily increased until the admissions for continental
United States alone exceed 10,000 annually.
For the fiscal
year ending July 1, 1920, I have figures from commissioners of
immigration at San Francisco up to June 12, 1920, and at Seattle up to
May 31, each for less than the year, showing a total Japanese
immigration into continental United States of 10,823. I have here in
the shape of an exhibit the distribution of these:
Received at the port
of San Francisco, Angel Island; that is, from July 1, 1919, to June 12,
1920:
From Japan, males, 2,944; females, 2,541; from Hawaii, males, 89;
females, 37.
At Seattle: Arrivals of the Japanese from July 1, 1919, to
May 31, 1920, say 11 months, from Japan, males, 3,175; females, 1,988.
From Canada, males, 25; females, 14.
From Hawaii, no record,
insignificant number.
These figures, I understand, do not include
tourists, students, merchants, etc.
ADMISSION OF LABORERS.
The
agreement was violated next by Japan sending over a large number of
laborers, and numbers of others not classed as laborers, but who came
to labor, and who were not prior residents of the United States. In the
years 1918 and 1919, the official reports, segregated by occupations,
show each year as high as 3,000 laborers admitted, all of whom
certainly were not prior residents.
The board of control, in
its report, calls attention to the fact that during the years 1910 to
1919, there applied for admission to this country 610 Japanese laborers
not entitled to passports, and of these all but 25 were admitted. There
were also 825 admitted who were without proper passports. The board
asks, "Why the admission of those not entitled to passports, and those
without proper passports?" This is an illustration of the suggestion
which I have made earlier, that even within the limited area in which
we could restrict immigration, apparently, our Government has been
derelict.
As has been shown already, the Japanese population
of continental United States has increased 96,000 since 1906, and that
of California 72,000. Of this increase, a certain portion is due to
births less deaths, while the balance is due to those who have entered
the country from Japan or Hawaii, legitimately or surreptitiously. The
great majority of this increase who have thus entered in the period
named are laborers, as anyone knows who is familiar with the
occupations of the Japanese now in this country; and every Japanese
laborer within this category marks a violation of the "gentlemen's
agreement." In California alone the population of the State has been
increased within the period named by admissions about 50,000, and most
of these were or are laborers.
Ichihashi, a Japanese member
of the faculty of Stanford University, published in 1915 a book on
immigration, in which he claimed that the total Japanese population of
California, including women and children, was then 55,000; and that of
this number 25,000 were farm hands. The greater portion of this 25,000
must have come in from Japan in violation of the terms of the
"gentlemen's agreement," since the total Japanese population in
California in 1906 was only 28,000.
Mr. SIEGEL. I understand
that a great many aliens enter illegally as sailors, whether from Japan
or otherwise, and we have not been successful in getting any of these
people back, or shipping them out of the country.
Mr.
MCCLATCHY. Let me offer this suggestion: It is a very difficult thing
to apprehend the Japanese, while it is not so difficult to apprehend
the Chinese. A Chinese must have a certificate showing that he is
entitled to be here; the Japanese need not; and, after three and five
years, the Japanese are permitted to remain here, even though not
legally admitted. So there ought to be a system of registration for
Japanese; and any Japanese who can not show a certificate entitling him
to residence here, should be at once deported. At present, the Japanese
may exchange papers, or they may claim three or five years' residence.
"PICTURE BRIDES."
The
original Japanese immigrants as a rule did not bring wives with them.
Very few of them had wives. In 1900, according to the United States
census, the proportion of Japanese females to males in this country was
one to twenty-five. Wives were needed in order that Japanese colonies
in this country might rapidly increase, so Japan utilized the plan of
the picture marriage, and recognized it officially in order that each
Japanese in America who had no wife could acquire one by the simple
expedient of sending his photograph over to Japan and having a
complaisant maiden found who would wed him. The "gentlemen's agreement"
recognized the right of each Japanese in this country to bring his wife
over from Japan, and his picture bride was given a passport identifying
her as his wife, armed with which she entered this country.
In
1910, the proportion of adult females to males in this country among
the Japanese had increased to one to seven and thereafter nearly every
year the number of females shipped over was in excess of the males,
sometimes two to one. They were more necessary at that time, and are
now, than males in the carrying out of Japan's plan of peaceful
penetration. The present proportion of females to males in California
is estimated at one to four. The Japanese census figures show about one
to three and one-half.
That the practice of shipping picture
brides was encouraged for the express purpose of aiding Japan's plan of
"peaceful penetration" of this country, by increasing the number of
resident Japanese and assisting thereby in securing gradual control of
certain sections, is apparently verified by the following extract from
an editorial published in the Asahi Shimbun, one of the leading
newspapers of Tokyo, in commenting on the order abolishing picture
marriage:
"As a result of the 'gentlemen's agreement' of
1907, by which our Government restricted emigration to America,
Japanese in America lost the means of increasing their numbers by
immigration. But afterwards relief from their difficult position was
provided in the permission to send for women as photograph brides. By
this it was possible for our unmarried compatriots in America to
establish families without taking the trouble to go home to get wives.
This had the double advantage that while on one hand it enabled them to
enjoy the pleasures of family life, on the other hand it enabled them
to escape the cruel persecution of all sorts of anti-Japanese laws by
the power of their children who are born with the rights of citizens."
"EDUCATING GIRLS FOR PICTURE BRIDES."
Further
evidence as to the intent which lies behind the importations of
"picture brides" into the United States is to be found in the article
published in the Northman, a Swedish publication published in Portland,
Oreg., in its issue of June 10, 1920; the article being composed of
extracts from a letter written by Miss Frances Hewitt, who spent six
years in Japan teaching English to Japanese school children, and whose
long and intimate acquaintance with the Japanese in that relation gave
her opportunities for acquiring knowledge denied to ordinary tourists,
or even residents, in Japan.
"Tourists do not learn that
every girl (school girl) is thoroughly drilled in the doctrine that,
should she become a 'picture bride' in America, or an immigrant to
other lands, her loyal duty to her Emperor is to have as many children
as possible, so that the foreigners' land may become in time a
possession of Japan, through the expressed will of a majority of the
people."
END OF PICTURE BRIDES.
During
the year 1919, following the publication of my first articles on the
subject, public sentiment in this country became so strong against this
picture bride feature that Japan, in December, 1919, announced that,
after February 25, 1920, she would cease to issue passports to picture
brides. Note, however, that everything was done to issue as many
passports as possible during the three months preceding February 25.
The Japanese consulates at San Francisco and Seattle cabled the
necessary certificates for picture brides at a probable cost of $25
each, and the Japanese Government announced that it would permit brides
securing passports prior to February 25 to have until August 25 to
embark for America. In consequence, they have been coming over
steadily, from 60 to 130 in a single ship, while other travelers have
been forced to postpone their journeys if accommodations on any ship
were insufficient after the picture brides had been taken care of.
Following
is a translation from the Great Northern Daily News, a Japanese
newspaper published in Seattle. The article (embodying information from
Tokyo) appeared in the issue of June 2, 1920:
"Photograph brides must
go to America by the end of August. The foreign office has sent private
(secret) instructions to the responsible authorities at the ports of
sailing that this class of brides must be shipped as speedily as
possible. Consequently, the hotels at Nagasaki, Kobe, and especially
Yokohama, present remarkable spectacles like human whirlpools on
account of these brides. The ordinary passengers for America have to
postpone their sailings. Twenty per cent of the passengers on every
vessel are women, according to the statement of a recent arrival from
Japan."
SUBSTITUTES FOR THE BRIDE PLAN.
The
action of the Japanese Government in refusing further passports to
picture brides was taken on the recommendation of the directors of the
Japanese Association of America. This action was repudiated by the
membership of the association and by the local Japanese associations
throughout the coast, and resulted in a fight to turn out the old
directorate, and a most vicious attack on Consul General Ohta, at San
Francisco, who was held responsible for the directors' action. General
demand was made upon Japan for withdrawal of the order as to picture
brides, and failing to secure such withdrawal a commission was sent
over, and is now in Japan, to induce the Japanese war department to
lengthen the term of visit permitted to Japanese in their native land
without being subject to the enforcement of the conscription law, from
one month, the present regulation, to six months, so that they might
have time to secure wives.
In the Japanese newspaper Shin
Sekai, of San Francisco, The New World, of June 9, Noriyuki Toyama, a
delegate to the commission from the Central Japanese Association of
Southern California, expresses himself as follows:
"The
inability on the part of those whose conscription has been postponed to
stay more than 30 days in Japan is a great obstruction to the overseas
development of our people."
The Sacramento Daily News, a
Japanese daily newspaper in Sacramento, in its issue of June 29 of this
year, declared that Consul General Ohta, when complaint was made to him
as to his action in recommending, through the Japanese Association of
America, that the granting of passports to picture brides be stopped,
said:
"In compensation for the abrogation of the photograph marriage,
we intend to take steps to secure the passage of a definite number of
women under the name of extending the period of conscription."
The
paper insists that the consul thereby conveyed the intimation that
before enforcement of abrogation of picture bride marriages was
announced he had taken the necessary steps with the authorities of the
war office to insure the substitution of some plan which would obtain
similar results in the importation of brides. Because the Japanese war
department has declined to reconsider the picture bride order, or, up
to this time, to provide some compensatory arrangement, the recall of
the consul general has been demanded by a number of his indignant
countrymen in California.
Other subterfuges have been
resorted to maintain the continuance of the supply of picture brides.
One of the plans was to secure the necessary number of women from
Hawaii, and a regular business for the purpose was established by a
Japanese in Stockton, whose naive advertisement in one of the Japanese
newspapers of San Francisco, the Shin Sekai (New World), June 9, 1920,
reads as follows:
"Marriages mediated -- the
abrogation of photograph brides is positively nothing to grieve over.
We have formed a connection with reliable parties in Hawaii, and will
undertake to make all investigations of character and other
particulars, and mediate marriage. Applicants should send photographs,
personal history, and consular certificate to the undersigned, Furuya,
124 South Center Street, Stockton, Calif."
"YOSHI -- ADOPTED CHILDREN."
The
"gentlemen's agreement" provided that Japanese already entitled to
residence in this country had the right to send back for their wives
and children. The Japanese, as a rule, had no wives, so wives were made
for them in Japan by the picture-bride method. They had no children, so
children were provided for them by the "yoshi" plan of adoption. Any
Japanese in this country may formally adopt a number of children, men
or women, in Japan, younger than himself, and these "yoshi" children
after a certain period have the right of entry into this country. The
"yoshi" after they arrive here, may, if they desire, divorce themselves
from their adopted parents, and then bring over their own blood
relatives; and so the flow of Japanese is maintained notwithstanding
our understanding of the agreement.
The Shin Sekai, in its
issue of May 25, 1920, quotes Vice Consul Tanaka, at San Francisco, as
saying that between April 1 and May 24 of this year, he had issued 80
certificates for "yoshi." In the report of the board of control,
mention is made of the fact that the Japanese consul at Los Angeles
reported that out of 176 declarations by Japanese on behalf of
relatives coming from Japan he filed in the two years preceding,
approximately 23 were filed in behalf of "yoshi."
It is not
improbable that the "yoshi" plan is being used, as it can be used, for
the purpose of bringing over more brides, since the picture bride plan
is about to be abandoned, because the plan of adoption is used for
females as well as for males. Female adopted children are called
"yoji." There is nothing at all to prevent a "yoji," on entrance into
California, divorcing her adopted parent and becoming his bride.
COMING IN OVER THE BORDER.
It
is not thinkable that Japan, through her consular system and agents, is
not fully aware of the manner in which the intent and letter of the
gentlemen's agreement is being violated by surreptitious entries over
the border. Through the various local and district organizations, under
control of the Japanese Association of America, with headquarters at
San Francisco, which in its turn is entirely directed by the Japanese
consul general at San Francisco, as openly declared by the leading
Japanese newspaper of San Francisco, Nichi Bei, she keeps careful tab
upon the Japanese in California, all of whom she claims as her
citizens, and exacts from them duties and obligation as such.
One
of the proofs of her complicity in the matter is found in the recent
secret order for a Japanese census in California, as directed by the
minister of foreign affairs, under order of Premier Hara. A
correspondent in Los Angeles, writing in the Shin Sekai, the New World,
of San Francisco, May 19, says that secret instructions to the Japanese
consul at Los Angeles are to the effect that this registration must be
completed by August 31, 1920. The order calls for the most minute
details as to the occupation and income of each registrant, but allows
the most astonishing latitude as to inaccuracy in the names. This is
opposed to all methods and regulations ordinarily exercised by the
Japanese Government in such matters. The order provides that the name
by which any registrant is known here, or even his initials, will be
sufficient for the purpose of this census. The reason is that a large
number of Japanese here are without passports, or only with borrowed
passports, and under false names; and there are in addition hundreds of
"yoshi" whose family connections have become complicated with that of
the adopted parents.
CONSULAR KNOWLEDGE OF THE SITUATION.
Another
proof of Japan's knowledge of the fact that much of the Japanese
population of California is here illegally, is found in the procedure
under which the Japanese consulate issues certificates to Japanese
residing here who go back to Japan for a visit, intending to return.
They have not been obliged in the past to show to the consulate proof
that they came to California originally legally, and in accordance with
the terms of the "gentlemen's agreement." Within the past few weeks,
because of public criticism, the consulate has given notice that it
would require such evidence in the future.
Still another
proof of surreptitious entry across the border and of knowledge thereof
on the part of the Japanese consulate will be found in certain court
proceedings in San Francisco in February, 1920. Seventeen "picture
brides" were detained at Angel Island by the immigration commissioner
on the charge that the bridegrooms to whom they had been consigned had
no right to be in the country, having entered surreptitiously, and
without passports from Japan.
If that were true the
consulate would be properly chargeable with knowledge of the fact,
since each prospective bridegroom in sending back his photograph for
acceptance by some Japanese woman, to be selected for him, must
accompany it by a certificate from the Japanese consul at San
Francisco, indicating his business, standing, etc. The consulate would
therefore know, unless it deliberately failed to inquire, whether the
prospective bridegroom had a right, under the agreement with Japan, to
be in this country.
Writ of habeas corpus was sued for on
behalf of these picture brides, and they were finally released and
turned over to their picture bridegrooms when it was shown that the
latter, though they had entered the State surreptitiously, without
passports, had been here five years and therefore could not be deported
under general immigration regulations.
EVIDENCE OF ILLEGAL ENTRY.
Incontrovertible
evidence of the surreptitious entry of Japanese across the border is
furnished in the present estimated population of California, which is
100,000 or more. Up to the present time, Sidney Gulick and the Japanese
have claimed that the Japanese population of California was from 69,000
to 73,000, and have offered in substantiation figures based on the
United States 1910 census, with the record of arrivals and departures,
and births and deaths. If their estimates were correct, any excess
population in the State over the number claimed by them must have been
added by surreptitious entry, or come from other States. As the
Japanese population of other States has increased, rather than
decreased, conclusion as to surreptitious entry is inevitable.
Again
the board of control estimates that, assuming there have been no
surreptitious entries, the Japanese population of States outside of
California has decreased 10,000 since 1910, as indicated by official
data. Anyone familiar with conditions in Washington, Oregon, and other
States which have been colonized by the Japanese, knows that there has
been nowhere a decrease, but everywhere a marked increase of Japanese
population in the past 10 years. And the difference between the board
of control estimates (assuming them to be correct) and the actual
population in these various outside States will indicate with certainty
the number of Japanese who have entered surreptitiously.
Still
further evidence is found in the report of the Commissioner of
Immigration for the year ending June 30, 1919, in which attention is
called to the fact that there are 180 miles of California-Mexican
frontier to guard, the physical character of which makes it impossible
to prevent surreptitious entry even with a large force, while big
Japanese fishing fleets ply between American and Mexican waters
providing convenient means of unlawful entry.
Japanese farm
laborers in the Imperial Valley on both sides of the border are
passing constantly to and fro across the line. The report says that
confidential information of unquestionable authenticity shows
conclusively that the smuggling of Japanese across the border is
carried on successfully, and doubtless to a very large extent.
The
commissioner's report also declares that because of reduction of his
force on June 30, 1919, there will probably be an enormous falling off
of arrests and "instead of apprehending some 6,000 aliens of all
classes and degrees of undesirability, following surreptitious entry,
it is only reasonable to assume that many will cross the frontier
during the ensuing year with absolute impunity and merge their
identity." The report does not make it clear whether the 6,000 come
across our 180 miles of State border or across the entire Mexican
frontier; nor does it indicate what proportion may be Japanese.
COMING THROUGH MEXICO.
Mexico
is at this time the most available avenue for the surreptitious entry
of Japanese. The "gentlemen's agreement" was entered into for the
specific purpose of preventing entry of Japanese labor into this
country through Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, etc. Mr. Gulick said, in his
last pamphlet, "Japan and the gentlemen's agreement:"
"For many years
Japan has been voluntarily restricting immigration to Mexico, applying
to that land, also the general principles of the gentlemen's
agreement."
That may or may not be true, but as a matter of fact Japan
is sending a great number over every month. The Fall Senate Committee
of Congress, which has been investigating Mexican conditions, says that
it is reliably reported that Japanese liners arrive at the port of
Salina Cruz every 10 days and that Japanese are entering through that
port in increasing numbers, and that they practically control commerce
on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
Tehuantepec is a far cry from
the American border; but a press news item of May 15, 1920, from the
City of Mexico, published generally throughout the United States,
called attention to the fact that the newspapers of that city are very
much concerned as to the increased immigration of Japanese into Mexico;
that the arrivals during the month of March had been 5,000 and that the
total for the year was expected to be 100,000; and that most of the
arrivals were going to the agricultural districts of Sonora and Sinaloa.
Sonora
is on the American border. It is generally conceded that no Japanese
stays in Mexico when he can cross into the United States.
CONTROL OF THE SOIL.ALIEN
CONTROL OF SOIL, PRODUCTS, AND MARKETS A MENACE TO THE NATION -- A
BASIC FACTOR OF JAPANESE "PEACEFUL PENETRATION " -- THEY ALREADY
CONTROL MOST OF THE RICH IRRIGATED ACREAGE IN SEVERAL LARGE COUNTIES OF
CALIFORNIA ORGANIZATION FOR CONTROL OF MARKETS -- COLONIZATION IN OTHER
STATES -- FISHERIES.
As a result of the advantages
possessed by the Japanese in economic competition they are gradually
securing control of the soil in the richest agricultural districts of
the State, control of the products thereof, and control of the markets.
If a unified interest like the Japanese can thus obtain control of the
soil and its products in this country, even while their numbers be
comparatively few, they will be able to secure in time a strangle hold
on the economic development of the country itself.
What they already have accomplished in California is thus briefly indicated.
Their
apologists insist that the Japanese have only reclaimed or improved
land which was practically worthless and unoccupied. That is true in a
few instances only. The Japanese are concentrating their efforts in
securing control of the richest lands of the State, following always
their clearly defined policy of penetration by concentrating effort in
localities and occupations where least efforts will produce greatest
results. They have only, say, 100,000, in our total State population of
3,400,000, but nearly all that hundred thousand is found in 29 rich
agricultural counties out of the State's total of 58. Most of it is
found in 18 of those counties and 75 per cent, if births be a fair
indication of population, is settled in seven counties and concentrated
in the most favored portions of those seven counties. May I ask this
committee to bear in mind that this is not a weak solution of a hundred
thousand Japanese in 3,400,000 whites; it is a concentrated essence
placed in a few special spots and for a special purpose.
Sidney
Gulick -- and reference to Sidney Gulick applies equally to the
pro-Japanese in general -- belittles the control of the soil by the
Japanese, saying that they own a comparatively small acreage; but the
fact is that the Japanese control of the land by lease is practically
as bad for State interests as control by ownership, since the lease
establishes Japanese residence and control and drives off the whites.
Short-term lease is as bad in effect as long term, since at the end of
the short lease the injury has been done to the community and the owner
must either renew the lease to Japanese or let the land lie
unproductive.
Placer County and other districts of the
State, which the Japanese claim to have made, were highly developed
before the first Japanese came into these districts.
That
was so also in Florin. In my memory before the Japanese were seen there
Florin strawberries were shipped in carload lots as far east as the
Mississippi River. In those days the Sacramento Bee had a little
newspaper route there. A woman in a sulky distributed the paper to
about 60 subscribers through the strawberry fields. Each family had a 5
or 10 acre piece, not more than that, and that route meandered through
those strawberry fields. The Japanese came in time, and they worked,
and then they leased and then they bought, and the whites left, and in
a few years there wasn't a single subscriber for that route. The whites
had melted away from that particular district.
SECURING THE RICH LANDS.
It
has been claimed that the Japanese have been cultivating the lands
which are worthless. Now, the rich lands are the irrigated lands. The
fact that they are irrigated is proof of their richness. The report of
the board of control showed that in this state there are 3,839,500
acres of irrigated land. On December 31, 1919, orientals occupied
623,752 acres of this total, in the proportion of 6 acres by Japanese,
1 by Chinese, and 1 by Hindus. Of the total acreage, 534,808 acres were
held under lease on crop contract, and 88,944 acres owned in fee. A
large portion of the acreage held in fee has been acquired by Japanese
since 1913, through violation or evasion of the alien and law. The
Japanese Agricultural Association of California states that the acreage
occupied by Japanese in 1909 was 83,252, and in 1919 the association
quotes the acreage as 427,029, an increase in the 10 years of 400 per
cent. The discrepancy as to acreage occupied in 1919 between these
figures and those of the board of control may be due to a difference in
the time of year that their respective figures were gathered; or it may
be due to the fact that the board of control figures include acreage
secretly owned by Japanese through white agents. The same Japanese
association indicates the valuation of Japanese crops in 1909 as
$6,235,856, and in 1919 as $67,145,730; the 1919 crop being more than
ten times the value of the 1909 crop.
The following
quotations are from the board of control's report: "It is interesting
to note that in some of the richest counties of the State orientals
occupy a total acreage ranging from 50 per cent to 75 per cent of the
total irrigated area; notably, San Joaquin County, with a total of
130,000 irrigated acres, with orientals occupying 95,829 acres; Colusa,
with a total of 70,000 acres, with orientals occupying 51,105 acres;
Placer County, with 19,000 total, orientals occupying 16,321 acres; and
Sacramento County, 80,000 orientals occupying 64,860."
In
general truck farming, small fruits and berries, the Japanese have for
some years produced most of the crop, the proportion in many products
running up to as high as 85 per cent and 90 per cent of the total crop.
Two years ago, through control of the strawberry market, the Japanese
were enabled to raise the price to such an extent that the public and
the commission dealers united in a refusal to buy.
ORGANIZING FOR "MARKET CONTROL."
The
Japanese are now organizing throughout the State, on recommendation of
the Japanese Agricultural Society of Central California, for the
purpose of controlling all markets in products raised by them. An
editorial in Shin Sekai, the Japanese New World, of San Francisco, June
2, 1920, advises its readers that the fears formerly expressed by it as
to an organization of this character being opposed to the antitrust law
have been dissipated by the bill recently passed by Congress excepting
farmers and stock raisers from the operation of such a law. "Hence,"
says the editorial, "farmers can now combine to control the marketing of
their output. We rejoice in this opportunity on behalf of the Japanese
farmers for whom cooperation is so necessary."
The leaders
among the Japanese fully recognize the importance to them of possession
of the land in their plan for peaceful penetration and ultimate control
in this country. An editorial in the Nichi Bei, of San Francisco, June
5, 1920, urges the Japanese to cease wasting their money in gambling
houses and invest it in land. It tells them "land is the very life of
the Japanese race in California. Land is the foundation of our
development."
You have in the report of the board of control
some very illuminating charts showing the manner in which the Japanese
ownership and leases have dotted and spotted the rich agricultural
lands of this State, and it is important to know that the lands which
are thus spotted are the richest lands of the State.
Various
articles concerning the work of Japanese in securing control of land
and markets in California, are included in Exhibit D.
JAPANESE PENETRATION IN OTHER STATES.
What
the Japanese are fast accomplishing in California in the way of
peaceful penetration and control of land, they are attempting elsewhere
in the United States, although knowledge thereof has not reached the
people of the country generally.
In Washington and in Oregon
the committee's investigations will secure knowledge of the extent of
this penetration. Seattle, in Washington, and the Hood River apple
district, in Oregon, are notable examples. In other States, in which
the committee will perhaps not have opportunity to investigate at this
time, there are sufficient proofs of the determination of the Japanese
to get a foothold in any locality where conditions of soil and climate
and environment will make their plans for colonization and penetration
easy or profitable.
For instance, in Colorado they have
already secured control of the Rocky Ford melon district. The Country
Gentleman of August 16, 1919, gives full account of how that was
accomplished. They are now running over into the adjoining State of
Nebraska, and according to Japanese authorities have already in those
two States about 5,000 colonists, who farm on the average 80 acres of
leased land to the family. The Christian churches have done what they
could to allay alarm and uneasiness on the part of the white population
of Colorado and Nebraska and make penetration of the Japanese colonists
easier.
In Florida, according to item published in Shin
Sekai of July 20, 1920, 200 Japanese settlers have purchased holdings
averaging 150 acres each, in the northern part of the State, and
through publicity are encouraging more of their countrymen to follow
their example.
In Texas, as indicated by a news item in the
Sacramento Bee, the Japanese have purchased 1,000 acres of good
irrigated land in the Rio Grande Valley, near El Paso, which is to be
planted in cotton. This adjoins the district in New Mexico, in Dona Ana
County, where the Japanese are already established in the cantaloupe
industry. In El Paso, the Japanese are interested in a large market
house and refrigerating plant about to be constructed, which will
handle their products from the lands in the Rio Grande Valley and the
adjoining State of New Mexico. In Eastern Texas, in Orange County,
there is a Japanese rice colony of over 3,000 acres.
THE JAPANESE IN FISHERIES.
The
Japanese have invaded and taken practical control of some of the
important fisheries of the State, as they have secured control of the
various agricultural activities. In the southern part of California, it
has been represented to the Federal Government that, in violation of
the Federal statutes, the greater portion of the fishing fleet centered
about San Pedro is owned or manned by Japanese to the number of 2,000
or more.
Complaint has been made recently as to this
situation, but it develops that while the operation of these fishing
boats by aliens is a clear violation of the Federal statute, through a
curious omission in the law, there is no penalty provided under which
the law can be enforced.
This matter has been called to the
attention of the Administration, and of the House Committee on Merchant
Marine and Fisheries, through Hon. C. F. Curry, from California, and in
a bill introduced by Chairman Green of the committee named, House
resolution 12102, there has been inserted a provision, section 5, which
it is assumed will remedy the defect in the law. This section provides
a penalty of $500 at every port of arrival for any vessel engaged in
the American fisheries and not documented as a vessel of the United
States, it being understood that vessels owned or manned by aliens can
not be so documented.
The State of Washington has protected
itself against a similar situation by passing a law under the
provisions of which vessels engaged in the fisheries within the State's
jurisdiction must be owned and manned by those who are citizens of the
United States, or who have declared their intention to become such.
To
leave the fisheries in practical control of the Japanese creates a very
serious situation: First, they assist materially in smuggling Japanese
into California from Mexico. Second, they place in the hands of aliens
an adjunct to the Navy which was found most valuable to Great Britain
in the recent war. Third, the fisheries in the Territory of Hawaii are
an absolute Japanese monopoly, and in the event of war with Japan, the
sampans and power boats of the Japanese, which are sea-going vessels,
could very easily secure from Japanese cruisers or transports arms and
munitions and land them on the coast of Oahu, the principal island, on
which are located our defenses, and therewith arm the Japanese
population, the greater portion of whose adult male members are trained
soldiers.
THE JAPANESE AS CITIZENS.A
DANGEROUS EXPERIMENT -- THE JAPANESE ARE NONASSIMILABLE -- THEY CAN
NOT, MAY NOT AND WILL NOT MAKE GOOD AMERICAN CITIZENS -- CONCLUSIVE
PROOFS PROM JAPANESE AUTHORITIES -- THE MISSIONARY DELUSION THAT
CHRISTIANIZATION WILL TRANSFORM THEM -- JAPANESE CLAIMS ALL
AMERICAN-BORN JAPANESE AND TRAINS THEM FOR JAPAN'S SERVICE.
There are three principal elements in the menace threatened by Japanese immigration. They are:
First.
The nonassimilability of the Japanese race; the practical impossibility
of making out of such material valuable and loyal American citizens.
Second.
Their unusually large birth rate per thousand population, already shown
in California to be three times that of the whites, notwithstanding
that the estimated proportion of adult females to males among the
Japanese is only 1 to 4, while among the whites it is, say, 1 to 1.
Third.
The great advantages which they possess in economic competition, partly
due to racial characteristics, and partly to standards of living,
organization, direction, and aid from their Government. These
advantages make it hopeless for American whites to compete with them.
It
should be evident that we can not encourage or permit in our midst the
development of an alien element possessing these characteristics
without inviting certain disaster to our institutions and to the Nation
itself. The evidence which will be presented on each of these points is
incontrovertible, and the conclusions inevitable.
NONASSIMILABILITY OF JAPANESE.
As
to nonassimilability, the first element mentioned in the Japanese
menace, there are three main reasons why it is useless to attempt the
making of good American citizens out of Japanese material, save of
course in exceptional individual instances. The Japanese can not, may
not, and will not provide desirable material for our citizenship:
First,
the Japanese can not assimilate and make good citizens, because their
racial characteristics, heredity, and religion prevent.
Second,
the Japanese may not assimilate and make good citizens, because their
Government, claiming all Japanese, no matter where born, as its
citizens, does not permit.
Third, the Japanese will not
assimilate and make good citizens. In the mass, with opportunity
offered, and even when born here, they have shown not only no
disposition to do so, but pronounced antagonism.
JAPANESE MAINTAIN RACIAL PURITY.
There
can be no effective assimilation of Japanese without intermarriage. It
is perhaps not desirable for the good of either race that there should
be intermarriage between whites and Japanese. The laws of some States
forbid such marriages but even where such marriages are permitted and
encouraged, the Japanese themselves will not take advantage thereof.
That is best demonstrated in Hawaii, where there is a great commingling
of races; but the Japanese, comprising nearly half of the entire
population of the Territory, and steadily increasing in number,
maintain in wonderful degree their racial purity. With a population of
112,000 or more the Japanese in Hawaii in five years have contracted
marriages with other races, according to the report made this year by
the Survey Commission -- at the request of the Commissioner of
Education, at Washington -- Bulletin No. 16,1920 -- as follows:
Thirty-two Japanese men and four women were married to Hawaiians, a few
Japanese men to Portuguese women, one Japanese man to an American
woman, and a few Japanese women to Chinese and Koreans.
THE MIKADO -- THE JAPANESE GOD.
The
Japanese hold that their Mikado [emperor of Japan] is the one living god to whom they owe
their very existence, and therefore all obedience. It is not possible
to make of an individual in whom that belief is deeply and firmly
grounded an American citizen who can be relied upon in a crisis. This
worship of the Mikado (Mikadoism, or Shintoism) is a part of the
education of each child in Japan, and school children are by Government
decree forced to worship at the Shinto shrines.
Buddhism,
which is tolerated in Japan, has Shintoism grafted onto it. Baron Goto,
a prominent Japanese statesman, at a gathering of Foreign Board Mission
secretaries, at New York, in June, 1919, said he was almost persuaded
to embrace Christianity; that with slight modifications he could do so.
It
is upon such suggestions as this American missionaries hang their hopes
that by placating the Japanese in various ways, and more particularly
as to their demands for free immigration and citizenship privileges in
the United States, the evangelization of the Japanese both in Japan and
in this country, will be made very much easier through Japanese
Government suggestion or influence.
The modification
necessary or desirable in Christianity before Baron Goto would embrace
it is probably a modification similar to that which has been made in
Buddhism; that is to say, the incorporation therein of Mikadoism, or
Shintoism, which recognizes the god character of the Mikado, and
insures thereby the loyalty of the individual Japanese to the Japanese
Empire, through the Mikado.
Prof. Kunitake Kume, in "Fifty
Years of New Japan," the English version of which was revised and
authorized for publication by Marquis Shigenobu Okuma, "the grand old
man of Japan," said:
"He (the Mikado) is regarded as a living Kami
(god), loved and revered by the nation above all things on earth, and
himself loving and protecting the nation, who are deemed sons of Kami
Nagara, and are intrusted to his care by the Kami. This mutual
understanding obtains between every individual Japanese and the
Emperor."
WHY JAPANESE SHOULD RULE THE EARTH.
It
is declared in the book, "The Political Development of Japan," written
by Etsujiro Uyehara, member of the Imperial Japanese Parliament, and
head of one of the war commissions from Japan to the United States in
1917, that,
"The Emperor of Japan can say without hesitation, 'L'etat
c'est moi,' 'I am the State,' more effectively than Louis XIV, not
because he can subject the people to his will, but because he is
morally so recognized. Theoretically, he is the center of the State, as
well as the State itself. He is to the Japanese mind the Supreme Being
in the cosmos of Japan, as God is in the universe to the pantheistic
philosopher."
In the Japan "Advertiser" of May 9, 1919,
there appeared a translation of an editorial in the "Niroku Shimbun" of
Tokio, from which the following quotation is made:
"The
Imperial Family of Japan is as worthy of respect as is God. The
Imperial Family of Japan is the parent not only of her sixty millions,
but of all mankind on earth. In the eyes of the Imperial Family all
races are one and the same. It is above all racial considerations. All
human disputes therefore may be settled in accordance with its
immaculate justice. The League of Nations, proposed to save mankind
from the horrors of war, can only attain its real object by placing the
Imperial Family of Japan at its head, for to attain its object the
League must have a strong punitive force of supernational and
superracial character, and this force can only be found in the Imperial
Family of Japan."
From a writer long resident in Japan, and
fully conversant with its language, its religion, and its people, is
quoted the following statement on this matter:
"Mikadoism, or Emperor
worship, is the sheet anchor of patriotic fervor in Japan -- the soul
of the body politic. The vast majority of the people have no other
religion. It is not a relic of bygone days, but the very heart of
present-day Japan."
In the Los Angeles Examiner of June 1,
1920, appeared a series of resolutions adopted the preceding day at a
picnic held in Flyman Park by the Japanese Christian laymen, at which
Seimatsu Kimena, the Japanese "Billy Sunday" was present. These
resolutions recite the belief of these Christianized Japanese that
Japanese can not make good American citizens unless they become
Christians. While the reason for this statement is not given, it is
clearly to be found in the Japanese worship of the Mikado. They also
declared their intention of giving their children only an American
education, and their willingness to be regarded in consequence by their
fellow countrymen as a forsaken band.
A DANGEROUS EVANGELICAL EXPERIMENT.
The
plea of Sidney Gulick, and a number of his Christian friends, that we
make citizens of the Japanese and then trust to making good citizens of
them by Christianizing them, advocates an experiment dangerous in the
extreme, doubtful even as to a superficial change in religion, and
certain to end in disaster. There are 150,000 Japanese in continental
United States, and it is estimated that but 4,000 of them have embraced
Christianity, although between 30,000 and 40,000 of those now living
were born in this country, and although 70,000 of them have been here
from 10 to 20 years. It may be assumed that if any large body of
Japanese become Christians, their brand of Christianity will have been
modified by Shintoism, as is their brand of Buddhism.
In
addition, it may be remembered that a few years ago Japan sent a
commission over to this country for the express purpose of
ascertaining the benefits conferred upon us by Christianity: for Japan,
if she sees a good thing in other nations, is quite willing to adopt it
herself. The report of the mission was to the effect that, judging by
the effects of Christianity on our people, it would not be a desirable
belief for Japan to embrace.
The principal opponents, in
this country, to Japanese exclusion are the American missionaries and
church organizations interested in the evangelization of the Japanese.
Apparently, they assume, aside from their claim that a Japanese can be
made a good American by Christianization, that if this country will
yield to the demands now made by Japan for the same privileges as
immigrants and citizens for their people as are extended to Europeans,
the work of the missionaries in Christianizing Japanese, both in this
country and in Japan, will be materially promoted through Japan's
friendly offices.
JAPAN REALLY UNFRIENDLY TO CHRISTIANITY.
The
attitude of Japan as to Christianization of her people has been
sufficiently indicated within the past year through her action in
Korea, where the Korean Christians were subjected to the greatest
persecution and torture, the evident attempt being made, as claimed by
some writers, to exterminate the Korean Christians, on the theory that
their Christianity imbued them with liberal ideas more or less
dangerous to the maintenance of Japan's power.
The attitude
of the Japanese Government toward practical evangelization in Japan
itself is well illustrated by the manner in which the institutions
established by various missionary organizations have been confiscated
for Government use, either directly or through enforced incorporation
as Japanese institutions. The following extract from a letter from Guy
M. Walker, to the New York Evening Sun, dated July 27, 1920, gives
detailed information as to Japan's act in connection with this policy:
"There
is another thing concerning what has happened in Japan in the last few
years on which our people should be enlightened, and that is the
confiscation by the Japanese of all mission property created by the
millions of money sent by our religious people to Japan for the
Christianization of the Japanese. In order to prevent the confiscation
of all of the mission property, there was a few years ago a feverish
and hurried effort on the part of many denominations to organize
Japanese churches such as the Methodist-Japanese, the Japanese
Presbyterian Church and the Japanese Baptist Church, and a hurried
transfer by the American missionary societies to these Japanese
churches of the missions schools and properties, in order to prevent
them from being seized and confiscated by the Japanese Government, or
of being appropriated by the Japanese trustees, in whose name they
stood. Many of these properties have since been converted into secular
or pagan institutions, and the Japanese have cut out everything
connected with the Christian propaganda, although they were created by
Christian money from America. If these facts were known, as they should
be, I am quite sure that no sensible American would ever give one penny
further for the education or civilization of the Japanese."
In
the Japan Advertiser (Tokyo) of June 20, 1920, is a lengthy article by
Charles A. Perry, calling attention to the little interest shown by
Japanese in the matter of Christianization as indicated by the small
number of Christian converts in Hamamatsu, a manufacturing town in
Japan, of about 19,000 inhabitants, and the high cost of their
conversion. He gives statistics and experiences from the various
missionaries and missions, and quotes Rev. W. A. Richards, one of the
resident missionaries, to the effect that the baptized converts of all
sects by the various missions on an average cost Y200 per head (a yen
is worth 50 cents). Mr. Perry adds:
"I am inclined, though without
precise figures, to think that this is an underestimate, for Mr.
Richards's own three converts (secured in four years) work out at
Y4,000 per head."
The inherent incapacity of the Japanese
for assimilation, their religious belief and ideals, bred in them for
generations and taught to them the world over, which foreign birth and
foreign residence does not modify, create a permanent and
insurmountable barrier between them and that real American citizenship
which would be of value, and not a grave menace, to this Nation. They
can not be transmuted into good American citizens.
JAPAN OPPOSES EXPATRIATION OF HER CITIZENS.
The
second point made by me against the possibility of making American
citizens out of Japanese is based upon my statement that Japan does not
permit it. We come now to the curious and inconsistent policy of our
Government as to dual citizenship, the full viciousness of which is
most apparent in the case of the Japanese. We recognize as an American
citizen and extend all rights and privileges as such to anyone born
under the American flag, including of course, the Japanese. Japan, on
the other hand, rigidly insists that every Japanese, no matter where
his parents were born, and no matter what nation may have conferred
citizenship on him, with or without his request, is a Japanese citizen,
and must perform all the obligations as such.
Every Japanese
born here, even if his forbears for generations were born here, but had
not been permitted to expatriate, is subject to orders from Japan; is
kept track of through the Japanese consulate, and other organizations,
and is subject to call for military duty. Authorities on international
law agree that, since the United States confers its citizenship on the
Japanese born here, unasked and with full knowledge of Japan's claims,
we must, in the event of war, recognize those Japanese as the citizens
of Japan.
We are thus conferring upon the Japanese born here
all the rights and privileges of citizenship, without any of the
obligations, and we are certainly breeding in our midst a class of
American citizens whose hand, we know in advance, must be against us in
possible case of war.
The Japan Parliament passed, some
years ago, and the Emperor afterwards promulgated, what is known as the
"nationality option law," which is supposed to permit a Japanese born
on foreign soil to expatriate himself. Examination of its terms and
operation shows it does nothing of the kind. Under it, a Japanese born
on foreign soil may, between the ages of 15 and 17, and with the
consent of his guardians, apply to the Japanese Government for
permission to renounce his allegiance. Under the circumstances, that
application is not often made, but, if made, it has no effect unless
permission be granted by the Japanese Government. The board of control
report quoted the Japanese Vice Consul Ishii, at San Francisco, to the
effect that not to exceed a dozen American-born children have signed
the "Declaration of Losing Nationality," and that, so far as learned,
permit has not been granted by the Japanese Government in any of these
cases.
HOW JAPAN TRAINS HER AMERICAN-BORN.
Japan
not only claims as her citizens all Japanese born on American soil, but
she takes great care that they grow up really as Japanese citizens,
with all the ideals and loyalty of the race, untouched by the notions
prevalent in this country, which would weaken that loyalty.
The
Japanese children born under the American flag are compelled to attend Japanese schools, usually after the public-school hours, where they
are taught the language, the ideals, and the religion of Japan, with
its basis of Mikado worship. Here they are taught by Japanese teachers,
usually Buddhist priests, who frequently speak no English, and who
almost invariably know nothing of American citizenship. The textbooks
used are the Mombusho series, issued under the authority of the
department of education at Tokyo. These schools are located wherever
there are Japanese communities, and teachers in the American public
schools testify that the Japanese children frequently are studying
their Japanese lessons in their public-school hours.
In Hawaii this system of Japanese schools and its effect in preventing
any chance of inculcating the principles of American citizenship in the
Japanese upon whom we confer such citizenship, caused such widespread
comment that the Hawaiian Legislature in 1919 attempted to pass a law
providing that teachers in foreign-language schools must know
sufficient English and enough American history and civics to ground the
pupils in the principles of American citizenship. That bill was
defeated on the demand and through the influence of the Japanese, who
said its effect would be to destroy their schools.
Now, the
survey commission appointed by the Commissioner of Education of the
United States, reports in Bulletin No. 16, of 1920, that these
Hawaiian-Japanese schools, if not anti-American, are at least not
pro-American, and recommends that all foreign language schools in the
Hawaiian Islands should be abolished, except for foreign children who
can never become American citizens.
NOT DISPOSED TO BECOME REAL AMERICANS.
It
has been shown already why the Japanese can not make good citizens,
because of their religion and heredity and nonassimilability; it has
been shown also why they may not make good citizens, because the laws
of Japan, efficiently and rigorously administered in the United States,
as well as in Japan, do not permit them; it is equally true that they
will not make good citizens and that the evidence of the acts of those
who have resided under the American flag for many years is conclusive
on this point.
In Hawaii, where their numbers make them
independent, and where they are now in a position to practically
control the territory, the Japanese form a separate, alien community,
observing the laws, customs, and the ideals of Japan, using the
Japanese language, both in their business and in their schools, and
bringing up their children to be, not American but Japanese citizens,
with all that loyalty to the Mikado which is a part of the Japanese
religion.
The statement made as to Japanese policy in
Hawaii is equally true of the Japanese in California, though, because
of differences in conditions, the evidence has not forced itself as yet
so strongly on public attention. The Japanese schools are found in
every Japanese community in California where there are enough children
to support them.
The
Japanese, however, are not content to
depend upon education of their American-born children in this country
in order to make them loyal subjects of the Mikado. In the report of
the Japanese Association of America, concerning its California
census, as quoted by the State board of control, appears the
statement that
there are in Japan at this time about 5,000 California-born Japanese.
That statement carries little significance to most people. It means,
however, that there are at this time 5,000 of the Japanese born in
California -- that is to say, 20 per cent of California's Japanese
minors -- upon whom the United States conferred citizenship, who are now
back in Japan being thoroughly instructed in the religion and ideals of
Japan; so that when they return here they may serve not as American
citizens, but as loyal subjects of the Mikado, to do his will and serve
his interests.
The immigration commissioners of San
Francisco and Seattle testify to this custom of many California
Japanese to send their children back to Japan when between [missing figure] and 10
years old and bring them back when they are 17 to 19.
The
Japanese writer, C. Kondo, chief secretary of the Central Japanese
Association of Southern California, in a very able article published in
Nichi Bei of January 8 and 9 of this year, frankly acknowledges that
the Japanese of California show no disposition to Americanize
themselves, and that to this fact largely is due the antagonism which
they have created. He warns them that this antagonism will increase
rather than disappear, and suggests that they should move to the
Southern States, where their characteristics are as yet unknown. He
adds, however, that if they pursue the same methods there that they
have in California they will encounter the same bitter experience that
they are now undergoing here.
CONSIDER THEMSELVES A SUPERIOR RACE.
One
reason why the Japanese show no disposition to Americanize themselves
lies in their belief, passed down through generations, grounded into
them in their schools, and a part of their religion (for is not their
nation the only one on earth whose ruler is the living god?), that
they are superior to any race on earth. Why, then, should they be
willing to expatriate themselves and become citizens of an inferior
Nation?
The cockiness which many have noticed in the
Japanese under certain conditions and on certain occasions, their pride
and sensitiveness, their intolerance of criticism or opposition, are
all due to this inbred and firmly established belief in their
superiority. In Exhibit AA appears an article from the issue of June
10, 1920, of The Northman, a Swedish publication printed at Portland,
Oreg., in which Miss Frances Hewitt, who spent six years in Japan
teaching English to Japanese school children in the public schools
there, says:
"Neither do the tourists learn that these children are
taught that they, being children of the Son of Heaven, are superior to
all foreigners, and that their natural destiny is to bring all other
peoples to subjection."
Under such conditions, it is not
only probable but practically certain that the majority of Japanese who
are now endeavoring to secure for themselves the privileges of American
citizenship are doing it not from any desire to help the American
Nation, or to become an integral part of it, but that they may better
serve Japan and the Mikado. A striking evidence of this is found in an
article which appeared in the Sacramento Daily News, a Japanese
newspaper, February 4, 1920, a translation of which appears in Exhibit
K herewith. This article calls the attention of the Japanese to the
dual citizenship situation, and suggests that for the present they
cease registering births with the Japanese authorities, but register
only with the American authorities. They are advised that they need not
fear thereby to lose Japanese citizenship, because at any time they can
make good their claim to it by proof of birth, etc. The article closes
with the statement that the American citizenship can be used for
furthering the purposes of Japan in this country. Following is part of
the article:
"It is urged then when as American citizens (by birth) the
opportunity comes for them to reinforce the Japanese residents in
America who have no citizenship rights, they must, on behalf of His
Majesty, the Emperor of Japan, become the loyal protectors of the race."
The
following is a portion of a statement made on his return to San
Francisco from Japan by Dr. Benjamin Ide Wheeler, president emeritus of
the University of California, and republished in the Japan Advertiser
of Tokyo on May 22, 1920. Dr. Wheeler had gone to Japan as a member of
an unofficial mission headed by Mr. Wallace M. Alexander, of the San
Francisco Chamber of Commerce, to discuss with leading Japanese the
feasibility of a friendly understanding between the two countries.
"The two civilizations can not mingle, and the leaders in Japan agree
that it is not well to attempt to amalgamate them. They can not and
will not understand our civilization, and no matter in what part of the
world he is, a Japanese always feels himself a subject of the Emperor,
with the Imperial Government backing him, much as a feudal retainer had
the support of his overlord in exchange for an undivided loyalty."
ARGUMENTS FOR IMMIGRATION.
I have heard but three arguments in favor of Japanese immigration -- or rather all pleas may be reduced to these three:
First.
The fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man plea. The Japanese
want to come here because this is a better place than Japan for them,
and we ought to welcome them.
That plea is a legitimate one
within limits. It ceases to have force when you invite destruction for
yourself and your posterity and your Nation in order to give someone
something which he does not need, but which he wants. A nation has no
right to disregard the first principles of self-preservation.
Second.
It is declared we can not do without Japanese labor; that with
exclusion enforced, lands will lie idle, and productivity decline.
So
far as our small farmers are concerned, the evidence is that they get
no benefit from Japanese labor. The Japanese work lands on lease, and
those who work for wages work for their countrymen, usually on the
cooperative plan, and not for whites. The board of control says in
California there are fewer Japanese working for white men than white
men working for Japanese.
It is the absentee landlord, the
large landholder, who wishes to reside in the city, who profits through
the presence of Japanese, by leasing to them.
We can afford
to have less profit made by these landowners -- we can even afford, if
necessary, to see our total production decrease, rather than promote
the control of this country by Japanese. Besides, the future exclusion
of Japanese will not decrease their number here. Their birth rate will
prevent that.
There are many experienced California farmers,
agriculturists, and orchardists who insist that activities in the
agricultural sections of the State can be continued successfully
without Japanese labor, and who themselves furnish proof thereof in the
management of their own properties. They do it usually by providing
conditions which will offer attractions to help of this character to
remain, particularly where they have families. For the picking of fruit
a number report that they find no difficulty in securing families and
girls, providing the necessary conditions are furnished. Some use
Mexican labor, which has to be handled courteously and fairly, but is
declared to be excellent labor if so handled, particularly if the
laborers have their families with them, and a small house with an
adjacent piece of ground is provided for each.
As indicating
the sentiment of California farmers on this subject, it is sufficient
to say that the California Farm Bureau Federation, representing an
affiliation of 33 county farm bureaus, covering 85 per cent of the
agricultural area of the State, with a membership of 20,000, voted by
referendum in July, 1920, on a long list of topics of importance to the
California farmer. The result as to matters connected with Japanese was
as follows:
Against Japanese immigration, 12 to 1; against leasing land
to Japanese, 12 to 1; against ownership of land by Japanese, 40 to 1;
against Japanese as bonded laborers, 7 to 1; against importation of
"picture brides," 27 to 1.
Third. It is urged that to enforce exclusion against the Japanese may produce friction and international complications.
That
is not the plea of a good, red-blooded American. The question is, Are
we right in this matter, and is Japan wrong? Canada and Australia and
New Zealand say we are right, and Japan has tacitly acquiesced in the
protective measures which those countries maintain. Our own experience
with Japanese immigration under presumed restriction proves
conclusively that the interests of the Nation demand exclusion. That
being so, the true American will say frankly to Japan: "You see the
facts; our people can not assimilate. Continuation of existing
conditions will make us enemies where we are now friends. Let us adopt
the only possible means which will prevent such an unfortunate result."
If
Japan insists on finding cause for friction in such a frank statement,
why, this is a good time to learn that fact. Certainly it is the time
to act in our own protection.
Prof. Albert Bushnell Hart, of
Harvard University, who returned recently from a visit to the Hawaiian
Islands, where he had investigated the problem of Japanese immigration,
said in a talk before the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco:
"Put the
boot on the other foot. Suppose 100,000 American laborers settled on
one of Japan's small islands. Suppose they brought with them American
customs, traditions, habits, and means of permanent establishment
through propagation. Would this be tolerated by the Japanese
Government? The Japanese themselves admit that it would not."
A GOVERNMENT WITHIN A GOVERNMENT.THE
CANCEROUS GROWTH WE ARE FOSTERING ITS ORGANIZATION, OBJECT, AND PLANS,
AND THE INEVITABLE RESULTS IF NOT CHECKED -- WE ARE ADMITTING AND
GIVING CITIZENSHIP TO THOSE WHO WILL ABSORB US IN PEACE AND OPPOSE US
IN WAR -- IMMEDIATE AND ABSOLUTE EXCLUSION THE ONLY REMEDY.
I
can not too strongly impress upon this committee the evidence which is
indisputable, and which steadily accumulates, that, through
encouragement or tolerance of Japanese immigration, we are developing
in our midst an unassimilable alien community which has no sympathy
with American institutions; out of which we can not in any way and in
any time mold American citizens; which is here simply for its own
selfish purposes and for the aggrandizement of Japan and the Mikado,
who is its god; and that this alien community is already commencing to
secure economic control of certain sections of the country.
Every
utterance and every act of the Japanese, properly understood, points to
their determination to develop the Japanese race in this country and to
create for them a position which can not be attacked -- to make, in short,
of this country a principality of Japan. They never discuss or consider
the development of themselves or their children as American citizens
who have severed all connections with Japan, but only as Japanese who
are establishing their race in a particularly favored land. It is for
this end that they are openly urged by their speakers and writers, in
district meetings and in newspaper editorials, to secure land and beget
children.
The three Pacific Coast States are generally
designated by the Japanese as "New Japan." Florin, in Sacramento
County, now a Japanese village and district, is called "Taisho-ku."
Taisho is the name of the present Imperial family of Japan. The model
Livingston colonies in Merced are called the Yamato Colonies. Yamato is
one of the favorite names of the Japanese for their homeland. The
Imperial Valley is always called Tei Koku, a term employed in speaking
of the Japanese Empire. Japan always changes the names of new
territories annexed by her. Korea is Chosen (which was the ancient
name): Formosa is Taiwan, etc. It would seem that they already regard
the Pacific coast as an outlying province.
Children are more
frank than their elders, and they usually reflect the sentiments which
they hear expressed by these elders. In the Washington Farmer, June 3,
W. S. Charles tells of the frequently expressed sentiment on the part
of Japanese school boys in the Pacific Northwest, when they have
physical differences with the American boys, to the effect that Japan
will come over here some day and take possession of this country.
Similar evidence appears in the statement of Mrs. J. M. MacClatchie of
Berkeley.
Japanese kultur is as insidious and much more
dangerous than German kultur. The propaganda and the agencies which it
employs, some of which were exposed by me in my previous hearing before
the committee, are such that, at first mention of them produced among
the uninformed only incredulous smiles. And Japanese kultur is not
making a mistake which German kultur made -- it does not encourage,
much less permit, the Japanese to become real American citizens.
ORGANIZATION OF THE JAPANESE.
This
alien community has an organization and practices a degree of
cooperation which makes it invincible in certain matters,
notwithstanding its comparatively small membership. The Japanese have
their local associations, which are controlled by five district
organizations centered at Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland,
Seattle, and Vancouver. They have in California 55 agricultural
associations, each of which is affiliated with one of the three large
central agricultural associations.
The district organization
centered at San Francisco is known as the Japanese Association of
America and its jurisdiction covers the States of Colorado, Utah,
Nevada, and all that portion of California north of the Tehachapi.
There are 39 local organizations affiliated with it.
The
Japanese Association of America, the district organization located at
San Francisco, while ostensibly an independent organization acting only
in the interests of the individual Japanese in a certain district of
the United States who swell its revenues, is really ruled by the
Japanese Consul General at San Francisco for the glory of Japan and her
illustrious ruler, the Mikado. That is not my statement, but the
declaration of Nichi Bei, the leading Japanese newspaper of San
Francisco. There is offered as an exhibit (see Exhibit "P") a
translation of an article, one of several of similar character which
appeared in that newspaper, in which it openly charged that the
Japanese Association is only the tool of the consul general, operated
from his office, and that he names its executives and dictates their
action.
The Japanese have boasted that through various
influences they have "scotched " or delayed adverse legislation in
Colorado and in Oregon. Their California journals have called attention
to the fact that they are raising a fund of $100,000, $50,000 to come
from Japan and the balance to be collected here, for the purpose of
"persuading " the next California legislature against action adverse to
Japanese interests here.
An investigation of the Japanese
communities in this State will convince this committee that we are
harboring a most dangerous character of alien Government within our
Government; that this alien Government controls the education, the
religion, the acts and the lives of the members of these resident
communities; and the sacred privilege of American citizenship conferred
on them by birth is of no value in inducing assimilation, but simply
places in their hands a weapon which will be used against us in
peaceful penetration or in open warfare.
RECAPITULATION.
It
will be agreed, I think, that the facts now before us conclusively
establish that the Japanese are undesirable as immigrants and as
citizens, not because they are of an inferior race but because they are
superior in certain characteristics, which, if the issue were forced,
would determine the possession of this country between two
unassimilable races.
The Japanese are unassimilable with our
civilization and our people. Their racial characteristics would soon
give them economic control of this country if these secure a foothold,
and their natural increase would give them in time superior numbers to
the whites. Under such conditions it would be national suicide to
encourage or permit the Japanese to secure a foothold here.
The
"gentlemen's agreement," under which Japanese immigration is at present
regulated, was a grave blunder. It has failed utterly to accomplish the
purposes for which it was intended. In 20 years our Japanese population
in continental United States has increased sixfold; while since 1906,
and directly chargeable to the "gentlemen's agreement." that Japanese
population in continental United States has multiplied three times, and
in California has multiplied four times.
It has been
established that the agreement is being constantly and deliberately
violated. Admissions coming through the open ports under passports from
Japan are largely in violation of the intent, if not the actual
wording, of the agreement, while there has been coming in over the
border surreptitiously in violation of the agreement, but certainly
with the knowledge of Japan, a steadily increasing number.
It
is certain that under either the "gentlemen's agreement," or the
proposed percentage immigration plan, an encouragement of further
admission of Japanese means that the Japanese population in this
country will so increase as to run into millions in a comparatively few
years, and ultimately become so large as to dispossess the white
race.
What has happened in Hawaii, which is apparently
already lost to the United States and to the whites, is happening in
certain localities in California. A continuance of these conditions
will make the situation general throughout the favored portions of the
United States. We are permitting to develop in our midst an alien,
unassimilable community, whose continued presence means international
conflict, and whose growth without conflict would mean the subjugation
of this country.
In Exhibit R will be found an
interview from the Japan Advertiser, of Tokyo, May 7, 1920, with Dr. H.
H. Powers, who has been a member of the faculties of the Universities
of Stanford and Cornell for 15 years, and who is the author of a
number of books. Dr. Powers is frankly telling the people of Japan,
through the Advertiser, that they are being misled in reference to this
immigration question; that Mr. Frank Vanderlip wrongs both peoples when
he holds out the hope that America will abandon her policy of exclusion
toward the peoples of the Far East. I shall quote a small portion only
of that interview:
"Unfortunately, the Japanese would not
make Americans at all. No race ever makes itself a part of another race
except by intermarriage and physical fusion. That would not happen in
the case of any far-eastern race, or at least would not happen fast and
soon enough to destroy the consciousness of race separateness. The
Japanese would remain distinct. They would rapidly displace our own
more exacting race. As we felt ourselves to be losing ground, we should
turn upon the aggressive race with bitterness and fury. That race would
lean on the home country and enlist its support.
"In a
word, if we want war between the two countries, that is the best way to
get it. Keep the sea between us and we can be friends, very good
friends: but, bring the two races together under conditions that ensure
competition on unequal terms, and where the necessary fusion is not to
be expected, and a bloody clash is inevitable. The American people feel
this though they do not wholly understand it. Their policy is the
instinct of self-protection."
THE REMEDY.
To
remedy the national situation which has thus been outlined, the State
of California can do very little because of lack of authority. What she
may do within her own borders, she is attempting to do, through an
initiative measure, in closing up the loopholes which have been found
to exist in her alien land law, so that the Japanese will no longer be
able to secure control of the rich agricultural lands in the State,
either through ownership or lease.
It is to be remembered
that in the existing treaty with Japan there is no provision for
extending to Japanese the right to own or lease agricultural lands, and
that the present alien land law, and the amendments thereto now being
provided for by initiative specifically guarantees to aliens ineligible
to citizenship, as to the acquisition, ownership, occupation, and
disposition of agricultural lands, all the rights granted them by
treaty, and not otherwise.
It is noted, too, that the plan
outlined by California to prevent ownership or lease of agricultural
lands by Japanese, against which there was such protest on the part of
the Japanese, has already been embodied in a law passed by the
Philippine Legislature and now effective with the formal or tacit
approval of the President of the United States.
The
effective remedy for the situation in this country must lie with the
Federal Government, which made the original blunder and created the
existing situation, and which alone has the power to provide the
remedy. That remedy will probably have to come partly from the
Executive Department, because of the existing "gentlemen's agreement,"
and perhaps partly through Congress in adopting legislation.
What is necessary, apparently, on the part of the United States Government to remedy the existing situation is:
First.
A policy of absolute exclusion of the Japanese, either under a treaty
or written agreement with Japan, or by act of Congress, as in the case
of China. This should be as rigid in its terms as our exclusion law
affecting the Chinese, and should forbid the importation, under any
pretext, of women or wives of Japanese men whose right to reside in
this country has been recognized. It has already been shown in this
statement that the Japanese birth rate in California is three times
that of the whites, though the Japanese have but one woman to three or
four men; that they have urged that they be permitted to import enough
women to serve as wives for all adult Japanese men; and that their
speakers and newspapers have constantly urged the necessity of raising
large families in order to establish the Yamato race permanently in
this country.
Second. Any necessary precautions to enforce such understanding by guarding against surreptitious entry.
Third.
Formal adoption of the clearly defined principle that Japanese and
other unassimilable Asiatics shall never be admitted to citizenship by
naturalization. To make exceptions to such a rule in favor of Japanese
already here, as is now being urged, would be a grave blunder,
establishing a precedent which would make for present complications
with other Asiatic countries, and future friction with Japan -- for the
concession would be used by her as an entering wedge. Aside from these
considerations, it would be a national crime to confer citizenship on
Japanese saturated with the ideals and religion of Japan, and who came
over here after reaching maturity. The evidence seems conclusive on
that point.
Fourth. A modification of our present policy
which permits dual citizenship and its grave consequences in the case
of the Japanese. Apparently the latter can be done only by amendment to
the Federal Constitution, confining citizenship by birth to those whose
parents are eligible to such citizenship.
HOW TO APPLY THE REMEDY.
Exclusion
can be accomplished under proposed bills in Congress by extending the
boundaries of the zone in Asia from which immigration is barred, to
include Japan. Action along these lines has been recommended by the
Commissioner General of Immigration in his report for the fiscal year,
ending June 30, 1919, at page 59, in the following language:
"The
bureau respectfully suggests consideration of the extension of the
barred zone to such parts of Asia as are not now included therein, nor
affected by exclusion laws or agreements, and also to Africa and
adjacent islands so as to exclude inhabitants who are of the
unassimilable classes, or whose admission in any considerable number
would tend to produce an economic menace to our population."
The
immediate settlement of this very grave question along lines of
exclusion is manifestly in the interests of both nations, since both
nations wish to maintain, and will find it advantageous to maintain,
friendly relations.
Apparently the leaders in Japan, as well
as those who have investigated the subject on behalf of the American
people, find convincing proof that neither race is desirous of
assimilating, even if it can assimilate. Under such conditions to
maintain side by side in this country two unassimilable races would be
to invite friction and bring about conflict ultimately.
The
effective remedy indicated in the four proposed measures outlined above
should be applied, if possible, in such a manner as to avoid hurt to
Japan's pride, and thereby prevent friction and possible international
complications. That could be accomplished either by a treaty, or by the
passage of identical laws by Japan and the United States under which
each nation would decline to admit to its shores, either as immigrants
or citizens, the nationals of the other, making, of course, due
provision for officials, tourists, students, commercial men, etc.
Japan
could offer no reasonable objection to such an arrangement, since she
would be excluding from Japan the same classes which we desire to
exclude from the United States, and she would be doing it presumably in
the interests of her own people, as we would be doing it in the
interests of ours. I commend to your committee careful consideration of
this suggestion as a possible solution for this serious problem.
IN HARMONY WITH PREVIOUS SUGGESTIONS.
The
five remedial measures suggested by me originally and afterwards
adopted by the American Legion in national convention, and by the
several exclusive organizations of the Pacific coast, would be
sufficiently covered in the plan as now proposed. These five remedies
appear at page 36 of "The Germany of Asia," and include (1)
cancellation of the "gentlemen's agreement"; (2) stopping of "picture
brides"; (3) future exclusion of Japanese with other Asiatics as
immigrants; (4) formal recognition of the policy excluding
unassimilable Asiatics from citizenship; and (5) amendment to the
Constitution so that citizenship by birth will not be conferred on
those whose parents are ineligible to such citizenship.
There
was a sixth suggestion credited to me as to admission of Chinese labor
in limited numbers for a limited time, under restriction as to locality
of residence and occupation. I did offer that suggestion in the
inception of the discussion, to meet the declaration that the interests
of the Nation demanded introduction of some oriental labor. That
suggestion was withdrawn within two weeks, and I have since uniformly
opposed it. The reason is that if we refuse admission to Japanese on
the plea that our policy bars Asiatic labor generally, we can not
consistently admit Chinese. If more oriental labor is really necessary
to maintain or to increase production (which we are not prepared to
admit) it is better to see production decrease somewhat than to permit
and encourage the evils which must follow in the wake of oriental
immigration.
JAPAN REVIEWS OUR LAND LAW.HER AUTHORITIES DECLARE IT VIOLATES NEITHER CONSTITUTION NOR TREATY.
(V. S. McClatchy in Sacramento Bee, Aug. 27, 1920.)
Some
Japanese, and many pro-Japanese, in this country question the
constitutionality of California's proposed initiative alien land law,
and insist also that it conflicts with, the existing treaty between
Japan and the United States.
LEGALITY OF MEASURE QUESTIONED.
Henry
P. Bowie, who was formerly a Californian (he was the first president of
the Japan Society of San Francisco), now settled in Japan, says in a
leading article in the Tokyo "Japan Times and Mail" of July 5, 1920:
"It
is the opinion of many legal minds and jurists of distinction that this
California statute violates the letter and the spirit of the treaty
with Japan..... There are sound reasons for believing that should the
case be properly presented either by an appeal to, or by original
proceedings taken in the United States Supreme Court, that tribunal
would adjudicate the California land law to be unconstitutional and
void."
And again Mr. Bowie says:
"The Constitution of the
United States declares all treaties to be the supreme law of the land,
any law of a State to the contrary notwithstanding."
It has
been pointed out a number of times by the proponents of the California
land measure that it does not violate in any way the existing treaty
with Japan, nor is it in violation of the Constitution of the United
States. The contentions put forth by Mr. Bowie in the article referred
to are shown to be ridiculous by Japanese authorities of recognized
standing who concede that the law, as originally passed in 1913, and
the initiative measure now before the people, do not in any way
conflict with the treaty, or with the Constitution of the United
States, and that Japan can have no legal redress in the matter.
TAKAHASHI CONCEDES STATUTE IS LEGAL.
The
Japanese Review of International Law, published at Tokyo, is a
recognized authority in that country, its contributors being among the
best known and best informed of Japanese statesmen.
In the
March, 1919, issue of that review, there appeared an article by Sakuye
Takahashi, L. L. D., its leading editor, in which he disposes
uncompromisingly of the opinion, more or less prevalent among the
Japanese, that the California land law can be set aside by appeal to
the United States Government, or to the courts.
He shows in that article:
1. That the treaty between Japan and the United States contains no "favored nation" clause applicable to the case.
2.
That the treaty fails to concede to Japanese in this country the
ownership of land for any purpose, or lease of land except for
commercial or residential purposes; and that, therefore, the Japanese
can not claim, under the treaty, the rights to the use of agricultural
lands, either through ownership or lease.
3. That even if
the treaty did permit ownership of land, such provision would be
illegal, since it is not within the province of the Federal Government,
but solely the right of the individual States, to regulate within their
own borders the ownership and control of land.
KOBAYASHI FINDS NO FLAW IN INITIATIVE.
The
argument of Dr. Takahashi, being written over a year ago, dealt only
with the law of 1913, and could not take into account the initiative
measure now before the people of California; but the same Japanese
review, in the issue of June, 1920, published a lengthy article by Dr.
K. Kobayashi, under the title of "The anti-Japanese land law in
California," which considers very fully all phases, historical and
legal, of the law of 1913, and also of the initiative measure now
before the people of this State for decision.
Therein he
sets forth as clearly and uncompromisingly as did Takahashi a year
before the futility of attempted opposition by legal methods to the
California alien land law. He says:
"Neither the present California
alien land law nor the proposed hasty and cruel initiative law can be
dealt with as legal questions. All that can be done is to soften them
by political and diplomatic methods."
He considers the
proposed law, first as to its constitutionality, and next as to its
compliance with the treaty, very fully, explaining the points in
connection with both phases.
CALIFORNIA WITHIN HER STATE RIGHTS.
He
shows that under the Federal Constitution the Federal Government is
clothed only with certain powers as to matters and conditions within
the respective States, and that as to other matters full authority is
vested in the States themselves. Among the matters over which the
States have entire and absolute control are land, and its acquisition
and use; and he concludes:
"Hence the California land law does not in
any way conflict with the Constitution. California can extend or
shorten the leasing period or take away the privilege entirely, and we
can do nothing."
He explains fully our treaty with Japan,
showing the material differences between this treaty and a similar
treaty made by Japan with Great Britain. Our treaty with Japan
expressly omits granting to Japanese in this country the privilege of
owning any land for any purpose, or of leasing lands for purposes aside
from those having to do with commerce and residence. The treaty with
Great Britain is quite different.
He shows, too, that the
only favored-nation clause in our treaty with Japan is found in Article
XIV thereof, which applies solely to matters of commerce and
navigation, and can not be made, under any stretch of the imagination,
to apply to land ownership. In fact, the treaty itself is simply a
treaty of commerce and navigation. He states very positively,
therefore,
"The California land law violates neither the Constitution
nor the Japan-America treaty of commerce and navigation."
NATURALIZATION NOT GOVERNED BY TREATY.
He
writes in a similar uncompromising way of the suggestion that Japan can
secure for her nationals naturalization in the United States by treaty,
and says: "To secure naturalization by treaty for aliens ineligible to
citizenship under the naturalization law is totally unthinkable,"
explaining that matters of naturalization are not within the
jurisdiction of the executive department of the Federal Government,
which department has to do with the negotiating of treaties with other
nations, but belong only to the legislative functions of Congress.
It
is nevertheless true that the Japanese Embassy at Washington, as
reported on several occasions, has made earnest protest against the
progress of the initiative land law measure in California. The embassy
is even reported to have delayed certain negotiations on matters
entirely unrelated until the California question shall have been
decided.
THE BASIC FACTS OUTLINED.
To expatriated
Californians like Henry Bowie, now earnestly promoting the plans of
Japan against this country, without proper knowledge of the facts; to
earnest Americans in this country innocently acting as propagandists
for Japan, and similarly uninformed; to other Americans whose selfish
interests induce them to espouse the Japanese cause regardless of the
menace to this country; and to official Japan seeking to induce the
Federal Government to interfere again in blocking the fight which
California is making, not for herself alone, but for the entire Nation;
to all these the following facts should be known and heeded; and to him
who still doubts that they are facts necessary proofs will be supplied
on application:
1. The highest authorities on international
law in Japan frankly declare that the California initiative land law
does not conflict either with the American Constitution or with the
American-Japanese treaty.
2. Similar authority, or the law
itself, shows that California, in thus complying strictly with the
treaty, will refuse to the Japanese in this country no rights or
privileges which are not refused by law to Americans in Japan.
3.
In thus seeking to prevent control by the Japanese of the land and its
products, California is using her limited jurisdiction in an attempt to
stop an evil which would eventually result in economic control of the
Nation by an alien and unassimilable race.
4. While
individual States may guard the land and its products from control of
this character, only the Federal Government can stop the incoming tide
of this alien and unassimilable race. If that tide be not stopped, the
comparative birth rates officially established in California
demonstrate that the white race in this country must succumb in time
to actual force of numbers.
ROOSEVELT ON THE JAPANESE QUESTION.WOULD
EXCLUDE EVEN SMALL TRADESMEN -- UPHELD OUR RIGHT TO REFUSE
NATURALIZATION AND OWNERSHIP OF LAND -- HELD THE TWO RACES
UNASSIMILABLE -- DENOUNCED THE PRESENT FORM OF GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT.
(By V. S. McClatchy.)
In
support of the demand on the part of the Japanese for naturalization of
their nationals in this country in order that they may be placed upon
an equality with immigrants from Europe in the matter of ownership of
land, despite laws that might be passed denying such right to
unnaturalized aliens, attention has been called to the recommendation
made by President Theodore Roosevelt in his message to Congress
December 3, 1906. In the short space of two lines he recommended merely:
"The passage of an act for naturalization of Japanese who come intending to become American citizens."
The
use of this recommendation by President Roosevelt for the purpose of
influencing public opinion favorably toward granting naturalization at
this time to the Japanese loses weight when it is shown that
subsequently and with better knowledge of conditions Roosevelt entirely
reversed the opinion thus expressed. It should be borne in mind, too,
that the Federal statutes must be amended before Congress even may
grant right of naturalization to members of the yellow race.
It
is evident that Roosevelt changed his views on the subject, for in
subsequent years, when he touched upon the Japanese question, he
offered no such recommendation, and these later clearly expressed views
on various phases of the subject seem to preclude the idea that he
would favor such action.
PROVIDED FOR EXCLUSION BY LAW.
In
his autobiography, published in 1913, at pages 411 to 417, in
discussing the California Japanese school question and his action in
regard thereto, he carefully omits reference to his recommendation of
naturalization and writes as though he approved California's stand as
to Japanese in all regards, save separation of school children.
In
that portion of the autobiography he says that Japan has the right to
declare on what terms she will admit foreigners to work in her country,
or to own land, or to become citizens, and that America has and must
insist on the same right. He points out that he concluded an agreement
with Japan (the gentlemen's agreement of 1907) under which it was
expressly agreed that we would pass exclusion laws against the Japanese
if Japan failed to keep her laborers out of this country, and that the
teeth were drawn out of this agreement by his successor, who in 1911
made a treaty of commerce and navigation with Japan under which we, in
effect, surrendered the right of exclusion which we had reserved. The
following is Roosevelt's language on this point:
"I secured
an arrangement with Japan under which the Japanese themselves
prevented any immigration to our country of their laboring people, it
being distinctly understood that if there was such immigration the
United States would at once pass an exclusion law. It was, of course,
infinitely better that the Japanese should stop their own people from
coming rather than that we should have to stop them; but it was
necessary for us to hold this power in reserve. Unfortunately, after I
left office, a most mistaken and ill-devised policy was pursued toward
Japan, combining irritation and inefficiency, which culminated in a
treaty under which we surrendered this important and necessary right.
It was alleged in excuse that the treaty provided for its own
abrogation; but, of course, it is infinitely better to have a treaty
under which the power to exercise a necessary right is explicitly
retained, rather than a treaty so drawn that recourse must be had to
the extreme step of abrogating, if it ever becomes necessary to
exercise the right in question."
OURS THE RIGHT TO EXCLUDE.
In a speech at Newport, R. I., July 2, 1913, Roosevelt said:
"We
have the right to insist that we, and we alone, are to decide what
immigrants shall come to our shores and as to whether these immigrants
shall become citizens or own land. These and other similar rights are
not merely rights but duties."
This is a repudiation of the
principle embodied in the gentlemen's agreement, as modified by the
treaty of 1911, under which we surrendered to Japan the right to select
the quantity and quality of Japanese immigration coming to us. It is
also a criticism of the policy, lately attempted by the Federal
treaty-making power, to nullify State land laws on Japan's demand.
NO ARBITRATION ON IMMIGRATION.
In
an editorial in the Outlook, January, 1916, Roosevelt declared that:
"We can not arbitrate, with the intention of abiding by the
arbitration," various questions, including the "admission of Asiatic
immigrants in mass."
This is a repudiation of a plan
suggested recently at Washington under which the entire Japanese
question, including land ownership and immigration, should be decided
by the United States, in conference with Great Britain, Japan, and
China.
Writing in the Kansas City Star in December, 1917; Roosevelt said:
"No temporary advantages from the importation of Chinese coolies would offset the far-reaching ultimate damage it would cause."
A REVERSAL IN 1909.
The
most conclusive evidence as to Roosevelt's quick change of the views
expressed in his message of 1906, and his subsequent opposition to
naturalization of Japanese, is found in correspondence had by him with
Hon. William Kent, in February, 1909, and published in the Sacramento
Bee, July 18, 1910, by special permission of" Roosevelt.
Kent,
in a letter to Roosevelt, January 29, 1909, called attention to the
seriousness of the Japanese situation, and insisted that, while the
Japanese should be treated with deference and respect,
"They should be
made to understand that we must be judge of our citizenship, and that,
if, in the exercise of such judgment, we do not wish to have our blood
mixed with that of orientals, or on the other horn of the dilemma, we
do not wish an unassimilable people among us, this means no disrespect
to a friendly nation or a friendly people who happen to be orientals."
Toward the close of Kent's letter he says:
"Therefore,
while fully appreciating the great difficulties of your position, and
the great service you are rendering in negotiating an understanding
whereby the Japanese shall be kept out by their own Government, there
still remains the menace of this race proposition that they are an
irreconcilable race when settled among us, and that distance will best
sanctify our traditional friendship for each other."
WOULD KEEP OUT EVEN TRADESMEN.
President Roosevelt's reply was written from the White House, under date of February 4, 1909, and is as follows:
"MY DEAR KENT: Let the arrangement between Japan and the United States be
entirely reciprocal. Let the Japanese and Americans visit one another's
countries with entire freedom as tourists, scholars, professors,
sojourners for study or pleasure, or for purposes of international
business, but keep out laborers, men who want to take up farms, men who
want to go into the small trades, or even in professions where the work
is of a non-international character; that is, keep out of Japan those
Americans who wish to settle and become part of the resident working
population, and keep out of America those Japanese who wish to adopt a
similar attitude. This is the only wise and proper policy.
"It is merely a recognition of the fact that, in the present stages of
social advancement of the two peoples, whatever may be the case in the
future, it is not only undesirable, but impossible that there should be
intermingling on a large scale, and the effort is sure to bring
disaster. Let each country also behave with scrupulous courtesy, fairness, and consideration to the other."
OPPOSED TO MINGLING AND NATURALIZATION.
This
statement makes it quite plain that Roosevelt would keep out of America
all those Japanese who wish to settle and become part of the resident
working population, not only in the ranks of labor and agriculture, but
even in the small trades and the professions.
It is
manifestly certain, therefore, that he was decidedly and unquestionably
opposed to conferring upon the Japanese the privilege of
naturalization, since such privilege would open the doors to contact
and intermingling and entitle them to ownership and control of
agricultural land, to all of which he expressed such decided opposition.
LABOR FEDERATION DEMANDS EXCLUSION OF THE JAPANESE.(Sacramento Bee, June 22, 1921.)
DENVER,
COLO., June 22.
The American Federation of Labor convention yesterday
went on record as favoring total exclusion of Japanese and other
orientals from the United States.
PREVENT MODIFICATION.
The executive council was instructed to take steps to prevent any modification of the Chinese-exclusion act.
They were also urged to work for the repeal of the "gentlemen's agreement" with Japan.
"The 'gentlemen's agreement' has proven to be a failure because the
Japanese, in a cunning and stealthy manner, have outwitted the intent
of the law," said the approved declaration. "In California alone there
are over 100,000 Japanese.
"This peril is not only a serious condition for California, but it is a positive menace to our entire Nation.
"ABOLISH 'GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT.'
"The
American Federation of Labor is fully justified in taking a firm stand
to do away with the 'gentlemen's agreement' and in its place inaugurate
a definite policy calling for total exclusion of Japanese with all
other orientals."
JAPAN'S SECRET POLICY.HER
IMMIGRANTS AND AMERICAN-BORN CITIZENS USING THEIR POSITION TO AID JAPAN
-- THE STARTLING STATEMENT OF A JAPANESE PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA.
(Original articles copyrighted by the Oakland Tribune. This digest reprinted by permission. Published by the Sacramento Bee.)
[Link to transcribed articles forthcoming]
Evidence
of a startling character was produced in the hearings of the House
Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, held on the Pacific coast
in July and August, 1920, to show the manner in which the Japanese in
California are using their privileges as immigrants and as citizens
(American born) to foster the interests of Japan in antagonism to those
of this country. Much of that evidence appeared in the statement of V.
S. McClatchy, publisher of the Sacramento Bee, and in the exhibits
offered in corroboration.
In the introduction to a published
digest of that statement it is said that it would appear therefrom,
among other things,
"that the economic question of today will develop
into a grave racial problem, unless the proper remedy be at once
applied; that the Japanese have determined to colonize favorable
sections of the United States, and permanently establish their race in
this country; that they openly preach their plans of peaceful
penetration 'get more land and beget many children,' as the most
certain method of accomplishing the purpose; that in so doing they do
not contemplate assimilating as American citizens, loyal to the country
of their birth or adoption, but plan to serve the ambition of Japan in
world subjection as taught in her religion and in her schools; and that
American-born Japanese on whom we confer citizenship are being trained
here and in Japan to use their American citizenship for the glory of
the Mikado and the benefit of the Japanese race."
Three
months after these charges were heard by the House committee they
received further confirmation from an entirely unexpected source. Dr.
Yoshi S. Kuno, son of Gen. Kuno, of the Imperial Army of Japan, has
served for a number of years as a professor of oriental languages and
history at the University of California. He published in the Oakland
(Calif.) Tribune in the latter part of October, 1920, a series of
articles telling the facts as to the policy and acts of the Japanese in
this country, impelled, as he says, by the conviction that further
deception will be certain to lead to strained relations between the two
countries, and determined to do what he can as a loyal Japanese and a
friend to America to avert that calamity.
In the following digest of those articles will be found the main points of Dr. Kuno's statement:
Dr.
Yoshi Saburo Kuno, professor in the department of oriental languages in
the University of California and son of Gen. Kuno, of the Imperial
Japanese Army, has brought down upon himself the indignation and
antagonism of his countrymen in California by declaring in public print
that the secret policy of Japanese generally in this country is
antagonistic to American interests and if not discontinued, must result
in serious misunderstanding between the two countries. As a lover of
Japan and a real friend of the United States he conceived it to be his
duty to tell the truth and thus force an adjustment which would prevent
a breach of friendly relations. His statement was first given to the
public through a series of copyrighted articles in the Oakland (Calif.)
Tribune in the latter part of October, 1920.
GRAVE CHARGES AGAINST THE JAPANESE.
Dr.
Kuno directly charges that Japan has established in this country a
government within a government; that through consular offices and
organized Japanese associations (which latter he says should be
abolished), she is controlling the acts and policies of all Japanese
here, whether they came as immigrants or were born here and enjoy,
therefore, the rights and privileges of American citizens; that such
control is exerted in the interests of the ambition of the dominant
military party of Japan for world conquest; that a skillful propaganda
system is maintained in this country, supported by the Japanese
Government; that many American universities are innocently assisting
this propaganda through the work of exchange Japanese professors or
dishonest American professors who are paid by Japan; that the continued
increase of unassimilable Japanese in this country -- with their
advantages of economic competition -- marks a danger which Japan would not
tolerate in her own country; that in California, even without
immigration, the 100,000 Japanese would double that number, because of
the birth rate, approximately every 10 years and in time overwhelm the
whites; that the separate Japanese schools are used to make loyal
Japanese out of children born here on whom this country has conferred
citizenship and that such schools should be abolished; that the laws of
Japan directly encourage the use of American citizenship in this way
and the return of the individuals at any time to Japan with full
restoration of all rights as Japanese citizens; and that American
"investigators" visiting Japan are so entertained and honored and
allowed no opportunity for learning the truth that they frequently
return active propagandists for Japan.
Dr. Kuno says that he
is forced to the course upon which he has embarked because the Japanese
have been sympathetically building a wall of lies about the true
conditions both here and in Japan. He declares that missionaries
returning to America, after living for many years in Japan, grossly
misrepresent conditions there to Americans. As an offender in this
regard he mentions Dr. Sidney Gulick particularly. "Friendly relations
between the United States and Japan can not be builded upon lies," he
says. "The truth must be told at all cost." He declares that the Japan
Society of America and similar organizations, composed of Americans and
Japanese and formed ostensibly to maintain friendly relations between
the two countries, are really used as means for distribution of
Japanese propaganda and the deception of the American public as to
Japan's acts and policies.
Curiously enough the publication
of Dr. Kuno's articles was made three months after the House Committee
on Immigration, at hearings in California, listened to similar charges
offered in a lengthy statement by V. S. McClatchy, publisher of the
Sacramento Bee, and substantiated by various proofs and exhibits,
including translations from a number of Japanese newspapers of the
Pacific coast. A digest of that statement has been printed in leaflet
form for distribution.
DR. KUNO'S CREDIBILITY.
As
to Dr. Kuno's integrity and trustworthiness, and partly also as to some
of his charges, witness is borne by David P. Barrows, president of the
University of California, and by Benjamin Ide Wheeler, president
emeritus of the institution. Dr. Barrows in a published interview said
that Dr. Kuno had been associated with the faculty in various
capacities for a score of years, had been a student before then and had
thus imbibed a love for truth and fair play in association with
American ideals, and had established a reputation for accuracy which
lent importance to the charges. He said also:
"As early as
1916 a cabal was organized by a professor, no longer associated with
the university, to oust Dr. Kuno from the faculty. This professor and
his associates were undoubtedly acting in the interests of the Japanese
Government. The motive behind the plot was the opposition to the
teaching of any kind of Japanese history in the university which was
not approved by the Japanese Association of California. Dr. Kuno was
too independent a man and too high a scholar to be sacrificed in this
way. He is a learned scholar and an accurate, independent, and fearless
teacher. I attest my sincere respect and admiration for him as a result
of 10 years of acquaintanceship."
Dr. Wheeler, in an interview published at the same time as Dr. Barrow's statement above, said:
"Prof.
Kuno, in my opinion, is a man whose judgment can be wholly respected
and who is not accustomed to saying or doing wild things. He knows
whereof he speaks, and while all of us may not agree with him in some
statements, his declarations must be respected as coming from a man who
knows whereof he speaks."
JAPANESE GOVERNMENT IN AMERICA.
The
situation in California (which it may be assumed would be extended in
time under existing conditions, to other States) is thus outlined by
Dr. Kuno:
"The Japanese are not living in this State as
emigrants. In my opinion they are establishing plantations of their
own, introducing their peculiar civilization and governmental, as well
as educational, institutions right in the midst of American
civilization. With the recognition of their home Government through
their consulate offices, they have established a sort of
quasi-government in leading cities, towns, and districts, wherever the
size of the Japanese population warrants. They levy a tax on Japanese
males and Japanese families under the caption of a membership fee. With
the permission of the consulate, they collect fees for all official
services rendered the Japanese by that office. All the Japanese who
live in the United States, whether they were born in this country or
have come from Japan, have many affairs to be attended to in connection
with the home Government, because all are claimed as subjects by the
Japanese Government. However, though these matters must be handled in
the consulate office, that office will have nothing to do with anything
that does not reach it through the channels of the quasi-Japanese
Government established in the towns and cities in California, and
otherwise known as 'The Japanese Association.'
"In the State
of California, the Japanese Government maintains two consulate offices,
viz., a consulate general at San Francisco and consulate at Los Angeles.
"Under
the control of each of these offices, there is one central Japanese
association. Under the control of each central association, there are
in turn numerous local Japanese associations. For example, the Central
Japanese Association at San Francisco has 40 local associations under
its control, while the one at Los Angeles has 12.
"In San
Francisco, there are practically three sorts of Japanese Government,
viz., the office of the consul general, which represents the Japanese
Government directly; the Central Japanese Association, and the Local
Japanese Association. The Central Association supervises all the 40
local associations in its district, in behalf of the office of the
consul general. In case a local association should disobey, conduct
itself with too great independence, or commit any irregularity, the
consul general's office, upon the advice of the Central Association,
would deprive it of all rights and privileges, such as the issuing of
certificates.
"The Japanese in the State hold an annual
assembly corresponding somewhat to the California State Assembly. This
assembly is composed of delegates sent by the local associations. There
is also another assembly held annually, which may be likened unto the
California State Senate, in that only the managers of the various local
associations are entitled to sit in that august body.
"The
purpose of the Japanese association, quoting from the regulations of
that in Berkeley, 'to defend, protect, and guard Japanese interests and
privileges against the outside, and to maintain and establish unity and
harmony in the inside, that they may enjoy full benefits.' All Japanese
in the United States, including native sons and daughters, being, from
the standpoint of Japan her subjects, are obliged to report births,
marriages, and deaths, besides movements of the families to the
Japanese Government. This can be done only by paying the fee to the
association and transmitting the information through that channel."
USING UNIVERSITIES FOR PROPAGANDA.
Concerning
the manner in which American universities have been utilized for
spreading misleading Japanese propaganda, Dr. Kuno makes some startling
statements. He says that Japanese scholars are unfit to be exchange
professors in this country "because of their blind and burning
patriotism and because they count scholarly veracity and honor as
naught when they have opportunity to defend their country's policies."
He says:
"A man in the employ of the San Francisco
Association is now teaching at Stanford University, and until a recent
date a member of the University of California faculty, who has since
resigned, was in the service of the Japanese Government and was writing
magazine articles supporting the Japanese holding of land."
He
shows by abstracts from official publications of Stanford University
that in 1913 "the trustees accepted a gift of several Japanese
gentlemen to maintain an instructorship in Japanese history and
government"; and that there was received "from the Japanese consul, San
Francisco, $1,800 for the salary of an instructor in Japanese history
and government for the academic year 1918-19." The inference is that
while it may not be objectionable for the Japanese gentlemen and the
Japanese consul to pay the salary of an instructor of history, such
instructor, either under suggestion of his patrons, or at the order of
the consul, should not deceive his pupils in his lectures or use his
position to strengthen the antagonistic policies of Japan in this
country.
He insists that Japan, through her consuls and
influential Japanese in this country, is urging these college
professors to use their positions, not for the teaching the truth, but
for such concealment or coloring thereof as will suit Japan's purpose.
He instances his own case. His first trouble was with the Japanese
consul at San Francisco, who summoned him and requested that he do not
teach the sordid side of Japanese history to his classes. Dr. Kuno
declined to conceal or misrepresent the facts, either as to Japan's
history or as to living and social conditions in that country. Since
that time the Japanese have barred him from their associations and
their meetings. He has been continually warned by letter to desist from
his announced cause, and since publication of his articles has appealed
to the police for protection because of threats made against him.
PICTURE BRIDES.
Concerning
"picture brides" and the manner in which they have been used to evade
the intent of the "gentlemen's agreement" as to introduction of
Japanese labor into continental United States, Dr. Kuno calls attention
to the fact that Chinese laborers in the United States are not
permitted to send back to China for wives, while Japanese laborers in
California "have imported hundreds of picture brides every month." He
further says:
"Because the Japanese are able to live so
cheaply at present, many Japanese men in the State, who would otherwise
have been unable to marry, have gotten wives from Japan. Upon the
arrival of the wife she generally works with her husband in the field.
In fact, female labor has thus been imported under the caption of
wives. Though this is not a legal violation of the 'gentlemen's
agreement,' the effect is substantially the same. This is not all. Even
after children have been born, the wife often works in the field."
THAT REMARKABLE BIRTH RATE.
Dr.
Kuno declares that the real danger to California and the United States
from an increase of unassimilable Japanese population lies not so much
in immigration from Japan as in the great birth rate among the Japanese
already here. He says that the Japanese are "a marvelously prolific
race" and then prophecies as follows:
"Should
all the plans and propositions regarding the Japanese now advocated by
Californians materialize, and everything asked be secured, still, I
venture to prophesy that by the end of another decade, these same
Californians would be confounded to
find that despite all their well-planned measures the Japanese
population in the State had doubled. This is no dream. A little
scientific investigation will prove the plausibility of such
conclusion."
Dr. Kuno evidently regards the situation in
California even after further Japanese immigration is excluded as a
subject of grave concern. He says:
"Under normal conditions,
it will be next to impossible for California to rid herself of the
Japanese already within her confines. The bloodless struggle has been
waged and will continue to be carried on between the whites and the
Japanese in the State. The one uses the legislative power of the
Commonwealth as its weapon, while the other wields the economic sword.
Under existing conditions, the bitterness seems to be augmented year
after year on the one hand, while on the other, through the birth of
children, the Japanese population will practically double itself each
decade.
"Should this condition persist uncorrected, it is
but a matter of time before there will be a serious clash between the
United States and Japan. The question is, indeed, one of great gravity."
Besides
Dr. Kuno's prophecies as to natural increase of the Japanese population
in this country, the tables offered by Mr. McClatchy a year ago are
mild and conservative. In those tables it was shown that assuming the
Japanese birth rate would be very much less than that now established
in California, and with "restricted" immigration under the Gulick plan
or under violations of the intent of the "gentlemen's agreement" as now
practiced, the Japanese population of continental United States would
double in a little less than 20 years, and under such conditions would
reach 2,000,000 in 40 years, 10,000,000 in 80 years, and 100,000,000 in
140 years.
SEPARATE JAPANESE SCHOOLS.
The
attention of the House Committee on Immigration was called by Mr.
McClatchy in his statement to the manner in which the separate Japanese
schools in the United States are used to make faithful subjects of the
Mikado of Japanese children born in this country upon whom our law
confers American citizenship. The survey commission appointed by the
United States Commissioner of Education at Washington was so impressed
by the menace these schools in Hawaii offered that it recommended they
be abolished. (See Bulletin No. 16, 1920. of Department of Education.)
Dr. Kuno evidently agrees fully with the impropriety of Japanese maintaining such schools in this country. He says:
"Whenever
a Japanese association exists a school is generally established under
its auspices. Most Japanese children are thus obliged to attend two
schools. They attend the regular American public school from 9 to 3,
and after school hours they have to go to the Japanese school, where
they study from texts prepared for use in the schools of Japan. Thus
these children while being served with a double amount of education,
which is in violation of physical law, have instilled into them two
codes of morality and two loyalties. The Japanese conduct these schools
in a most official way. In the city or town, there is a Japanese board
of education. In Berkeley, for example, if I understand correctly, this
board consists of about 20 members."
Dr. Kuno calls
attention to the dangers of dual citizenship to the interests of this
country. He points out that Japanese who expatriate themselves, with
the permission of Japan, may become Japanese citizens again at any time
provided they establish a domicile within the bounds of the Japanese
Empire; and he thus comments thereon:
"Though probably
remote from the purpose of the framers of the law, one might reasonably
interpret it as an artifice on the part of Japan by which her subjects
might become citizens of foreign nations in order to enjoy full rights
and privileges in other countries, with the view of later returning to
allegiance to their mother country."
THE ECONOMIC PROBLEM INVOLVED.
California's
claim is that the Japanese, because of certain advantages in economic
competition offered by their thrift, different standards of living,
long working hours, concentration and cooperation, are enabled to
displace the white race in any localities and industries selected by
them for "peaceful penetration;" and that the economic problem thus
created must rapidly develop into a racial problem with its attendant
complications. On this subject, Dr. Kuno says:
"Let us now
take up the economic condition of the Japanese in California. Japanese
labor is often mistakenly termed "cheap labor." However, the Japanese
charge almost as much as do workmen of almost any other nationality.
They also prove higher bidders when buying an unharvested crop in the
fields. The Japanese are able to pay higher for crops because they live
in shacks and their food is exceedingly plain and cheap. Therefore, the
trouble in California is not that the Japanese are cheap laborers, but
that they have wonderful saving capacity. Within a few years those who
started as common laborers have often either become landowners or
amassed sufficient capital to purchase standing crops. Because of this
difference in the standard of living of the Japanese and the American
farmer, the former has been able to encroach upon the production of
agricultural products to such an extent that the Japanese have come to
control from 80 to 90 per cent of such important crops as potatoes,
tomatoes, asparagus, spinach, and berries."
Again he says:
"The
Japanese should realize that the economic question constitutes an
important factor whenever foreign laborers come into a country and,
while living under a lower standard, compete with the citizens of that
country. The Japanese have simply to look at home conditions in Japan
for a good example of this. Some time after the Russo-Japanese War, the
cost of living as well as wages took tremendous leaps. Chinese laborers
were brought into Japan by a number of promoters. Anti-Chinese
agitation followed, and the Japanese Government was forced to strictly
prohibit the coming of Chinese laborers. The anti-Chinese agitation,
however, did not end there, but developed into race prejudice. In fact,
the Japanese studying in California, those engaged in trade and
industry, and even the laborers, have, notwithstanding the present
agitation, much better treatment than is accorded the Chinese by the
Japanese in Japan."
DR. KUNO'S PROGRAM.
Dr. Kuno
says that the articles in the Oakland Tribune mark but the beginning of
work which will perhaps extend into years; that he proposes to compel
the Japanese in California to understand their own situation, and to
listen with profit to the criticism of others. He insists that Japan
must change her present policy of framing foreign relations and demands
entirely upon her selfish interests, or she will have
misunderstandings, not only with the United States, but with all other
nations with which she comes in intimate relation.
He offers
several suggestions looking toward remedying the existing situation,
including exclusion of further Japanese immigration; abolishment of
Japanese associations and Japanese Schools in this country; reliance by
Japanese here in the American Government and school system; raising the
standard of living of Japanese here to that of the middle-class
American family, and naturalization of Japanese now here.
The
Japanese Association of America, located in San Francisco, and claiming
jurisdiction over the Japanese in the greater part of California and in
all of Nevada, Colorado, and Utah, through its secretary, K. Kanzaki,
has issued a general denial of Dr. Kuno's charges, so far as they
affect the objects and acts of the association. He declares there is no
relation between the association and the Japanese Government, that it
is an entirely independent body, working for the benefit of its members
and a better understanding between them and the Americans. He says that
the Japanese have never persecuted Dr. Kuno because of his views, that
they do not wish to attach importance to his expressions on public
matters, and that he is avoided by the Japanese because he "is utterly
unacquainted with the amenities of social life and has a disposition
which makes it impossible for anyone to associate with him." It is
insisted in this statement that Dr. Kuno's outline of Japanese
conditions in this country, and particularly in California, is entirely
misleading.
JAPANESE JOURNALIST AND DIPLOMAT GIVES VIEWS ON OUR JAPANESE PROBLEM.MIDARI KOMATSU FEELS THAT RACES ARE UNASSIMILABLE AND SHOULD DEVELOP APART IF FRICTION AND MISUNDERSTANDING ARE TO BE AVOIDED.
(From the Sacramento Bee, Nov. 8, 1920.)
SAN FRANCISCO, November 8.
Midari
Komatsu, editor of Chugai Shinron, an influential vernacular magazine
of Japan, and now representing several newspapers of Tokyo, has just
arrived in San Francisco from Japan on a tour of the world. While in
the United States he will investigate social and economic conditions.
Mr. Komatsu is now confining himself to journalistic work, but he was
formerly connected with the diplomatic service, having been Secretary
of the Japanese Legation at Washington prior to 1910 and afterwards
director of the Japanese foreign affairs bureau and secretary of the
central council in Korea. He is a graduate of law of Yale and of
political science of Princeton.
NEWS INTERCHANGED.
In
an interview with a Bee reporter Mr. Komatsu said that he had
interchanged views on the Japanese immigration problem at length with
the publisher of the Bee, V. S. McClatchy, and was agreeably surprised
to find that Mr. McClatchy's views, which he understood represent more
or less the views of most Californians, are entirely misunderstood in
Japan, because of various publications made in that country concerning
those views.
"I do not find," said Mr. Komatsu, "that Mr.
McClatchy is unfriendly to Japan or to the Japanese people. It seems to
me, on the contrary, that he is as anxious as I to prevent ruptures
between the two nations, so long friendly, and that he is quite in
earnest in believing that a continuance of existing conditions is
certain to produce friction and misunderstanding. I find myself in
accord with him in certain matters connected with the present problem,
and know of no reason why the minor points on which we differ can not
be satisfactorily solved.
RACE NOT ASSIMILABLE.
"For
instance, we agree that the white race and the Japanese race, at
present, for biological and other reasons, are not assimilable; that
the existence in either country of a large unassimilable element of
nationals of the other country, controlling land and its products, and
entering into disastrous economic competition with the natives, must
inevitably result in a racial conflict and international
misunderstanding. If conditions in California, or elsewhere in the
United States, are reaching that state it is to the interests of both
nations to correct them.
"If exclusion of Japanese
immigration will prevent a misunderstanding, Japan will not object to
taking necessary steps to correct any defects in the 'gentlemen's
agreement' which are responsible for present conditions. Japan is
really losing the better class of her farmers in those who come to the
United States, and would prefer to keep them. But she is also
solicitous that in any adjustment of the matter there should be no real
or apparent discrimination against her people, and that those who
remain in California, particularly, should be fairly treated.
NOT BADLY TREATED.
"The
impression prevails in Japan that the Japanese in California during the
past year's campaign on exclusion have been badly treated. I find that
it is not so; that they have nowhere been interfered with or hindered in
business, or insulted or abused personally. It has been difficult for
the Japanese people to understand that an actual campaign for rigorous
exclusion of Japanese could be conducted in such perfect good temper
and without boycott or other offensive measures against the Japanese. I
am led to believe therefrom that Mr. McClatchy properly represents
California sentiment when he says that neither the law nor the people
contemplate any interference with vested rights or any prohibition to
Japanese now here legally from following any occupation or conducting
any business, with the reservation only that they may not own or lease
agricultural lands."
Mr. Komatsu felt the alien land law,
while applied to all aliens ineligible to citizenship, would be
regarded by the Japanese as less discriminatory if it had been applied
to all foreigners, or at least to all foreigners who had failed to be
naturalized or to take out first citizenship papers.
SOME OBJECTIONS.
He
objected also to such change in the American constitution as would make
children born in this country ineligible to citizenship unless both
parents are eligible to such citizenship. He conceded that present
methods are preventing the making of good American citizens out of many
Japanese born here -- he referred to separate Japanese schools and the
practice of sending children back to Japan for education -- and conceded
that such schools should be abolished and such plan discontinued if the
children are to enjoy American citizenship. He suggested, however, that
the proper solution of the problem would be for the United States to
follow Japan's plan of naturalization which is applicable equally to
all foreigners, with no exception, and not give citizenship to the
children of foreigners born within the country. Such children can not
become citizens of Japan save through the usual channel of
naturalization, though the time required for them is shortened to 3
years, while for other foreigners it is 10 years. What Japan contends
is equal treatment, he added, not special privilege of citizenship for
her people in the States.
EXTREME METHODS DECRIED.
Mr.
Komatsu frankly expressed himself as feeling that the Japanese were not
treated in accord with their merits when the objectionable classes of
Europeans were classed as eligible for American citizenship, while the
Japanese are barred. He commented on the fact that 100,000 Chinese had
been called to France to serve during the war, and had been sent home
with the gratitude of France and her allies. He felt that the work of
the Japanese in producing the food for California was not properly
appreciated, and would not be unless the Japanese were to leave in a
body.
He decried some of the extreme methods of his
countrymen in connection with their campaign against the initiative
measure, and thought some of the activities had served only to
prejudice the country against the Japanese. He thought any attempt to
appeal to the courts in the matter ill advised, and that it was
unlikely to avail anything.
In his opinion, this problem can
be solved not by any legal method, but rather by sympathetic
consideration on both sides, based upon the principles of equity.
THE GERMANY OF ASIA.JAPAN'S
POLICY IN THE FAR EAST -- HER "PEACEFUL PENETRATION" OF THE UNITED
STATES -- HOW AMERICAN COMMERCIAL AND NATIONAL INTERESTS ARE AFFECTED.
(By V. S. McClatchy, publisher the Sacramento Bee.)
J.
Russell Kennedy, who acted as publicity agent for Japan at the Paris
peace conference, is manager of Kokusai, the Government-controlled news
agency of Japan, which handles the incoming and outgoing news of the
Empire. He is also manager in Japan for Reuter, the British news
agency, which surrendered the Japan news field some years ago to
Kokusai. He is also publisher of the Japan Times and Mail, a daily
newspaper issued from the Kokusai building in Tokyo, and used by the
Japanese Government to present to English-reading people points of view
as to matters Japanese, which might not otherwise secure their
attention.
Mr. Kennedy has been engaged for a few months
past in an active campaign to convince the people of the Far East that
certain articles which have appeared in the Sacramento Bee, written by
its publisher, and outlining the policy and acts of Japanese in the Far
East and in this country, are unreliable, and with no foundation save
malice.
In this campaign he has enlisted actively the various agencies with which he is associated.
The
newspapers of the Far East have been asked, as a matter of courtesy to
a fellow journalist, to reprint the matter. The Kobe (Japan) Chronicle
of January 15, 1920, for instance, comments on the fact that Kennedy
was indignant because the Chronicle failed to use a two-column article
of this description.
The Kokusai has included in its regular
service matter of the kind which has been published by the newspaper
subscribers to that service; and Reuter has lent its facilities to
Kennedy's purpose by including similar matter in the news report
distributed in China and elsewhere.
Much of the matter has also been printed in pamphlet form, and given extensive circulation.
While
much good white paper has been used in this way, most of the space is
devoted to vituperative personal abuse of the writer of the Bee's
articles, and the balance to denying certain statements as to the
Kokusai and Reuter services. The really important statements which deal
with Japan's acts and policy are dismissed by Kennedy with a wave of
the hand, and the assertion that they constitute "a web of mendacity."
The
elaborate efforts thus made to discredit these articles by personal
attacks on the writer, and by attempting to show that they are
inaccurate in minor issues, is sufficient indication that some one on
the other side of the Pacific is being hurt by an exposition of the
facts.
The Bee's articles were published nearly a year ago,
and have had general circulation through republication in prominent
newspapers of the United States. Each month since has brought
corroboration and proof of some of the statements therein made. No
important matter has met disproof or authoritative denial.
The
manager of Kokusai, in assailing the articles, is forced to the
expedient of claiming they contain a charge which does not appear
therein and then disproving that fictitious charge. He says that
Kokusai was charged with suppressing news of the armistice after the
armistice had been signed. The extract from the articles quoted by him
disprove his complaint. It was plainly stated that Kokusai had failed
to publish in Japan prior to the armistice the news received by the
balance of the world indicating that the defeat of the Germans was
inevitable and an armistice was about to be asked for.
The Peking Daily News in commenting on the denials promulgated by Kokusai said in its issue of January 12:
"But it is well known in this country that the Kokusai News Agency does suppress news when it is unfavorable to Japan."
Under
the circumstances the Kennedy attack and the methods used in
circulating it are complimentary to the Bee and to the writer of the
article. They constitute also a tactical mistake, for they call
attention in the Far East to certain activities of the Kokusai's
manager which might otherwise have attracted little notice; and they
will induce more careful investigation of the subject matter of the
Bee's articles. This phase has suggested itself to the editor of the
Kobe Chronicle, who says that "it seems unlikely that Mr. McClatchy's
pamphlet is worth the two-column advertisement which Mr. Kennedy wishes
to give it."
PART 1.JAPAN'S
AIMS AND ACTS IN THE FAR EAST -- HOW SHE THREATENS THE CAUSE OF
JUSTICE, THE INTERESTS OF THE UNITED STATES, AND THE PEACE OF THE WORLD.
(In eight articles.)
AN EXPLANATION.
These
articles on the Far East situation were written immediately on return
to California after three months' absence and published in the
Sacramento Bee between the 5th and 18th of April, 1919. The entire
time, aside from that portion consumed in sea travel and a few days
each in Manila and Korea, was spent in China and Japan, sight-seeing
being neglected at all times when information of value could be secured.
While,
as a Californian and newspaper man, I was familiar with the local
phases of Asiatic immigration, I had made no study of the Far East
problem and had not even read the books of Thomas F. Millard. The study
made on the ground was, there fore, somewhat in the nature of an
original investigation, with the advantages and disadvantages that
attend such character of investigation.
Exceptional
opportunities for securing reliable and confidential information
offered themselves, however, in meeting prominent officials, business
representatives, and newspaper men -- Chinese, Japanese, English, and
American -- most of them long resident in the Far East and intimately
familiar with conditions there. These men represented not one but all
sides of the vexed problem.
It is believed that the picture
presented in the articles, while necessarily deficient in detail and
artistic niceties, is substantially true in conception, outline, and
color. Read in the light of subsequent events, the articles present an
added interest, and have been reprinted in this form in response to
request.
OUR ASSET IN CHINA.
Article
III explains
the wonderful commercial asset which the United States possessed in the
early part of this year in the good will of China. How much of that
asset remains today, since the Paris conference indorsed Japan's
claims on the Shantung Peninsula, it would be difficult to
say. Letters from China politely excuse us on the theory that
President
Wilson, while unwilling to consent to inflicting injury on China, was
compelled by the strength of the combination against him. It is
probable that the real judgment of China is to the effect that while we
refused to despoil China ourselves we have placed, through President
Wilson's action, our official seal of approval on her spoliation by
Japan. It is true President Wilson's action has been repudiated by the
United States Senate reservation as to Shantung. If this reservation
shall stand as the final action of the Nation we will have retrieved,
in small part only, the grave injustice we have done China.
ASTONISHING PROPAGANDA.
Various
methods of propaganda, followed by Japan in securing her objects in the
Far East and concealing them from the world are referred to in the
articles. The most remarkable piece of propaganda work done by her has
been exposed since they were written. It is referred to here because it
offers striking corroboration of statements made in them. Reference is
had to the accomplishment of Sidney L. Gulick, who, during five years'
stay in the United States, has essayed to convert us to his "new
oriental policy" of admitting Asiatics to this country as immigrants
and citizens on the same plane as Europeans; who secured the
indorsement and financial assistance in this campaign of a powerful
church federation representing 100,000 churches; who has embodied his
plan in a "restricted immigration" bill, and, with the names of 1,000
prominent American citizens as sponsors therefore, presented the bill
to Congress.
Under the operation of the bill the Japanese
population in the United States would reach over 100,000,000 in 160
years, long before which time the country would have become a Japanese
Province. The thousand good Americans whose names are used in
connection with this work of the League for Constructive Immigration
Legislation did not know that the bill was "loaded." The scheme was
fully exposed in a series of articles in the Sacramento Bee published
in June, and reproduced in the second part of this booklet.
TRANS-PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE.
In
Article IV attention is called to the manner in which Japan controls
the incoming and outgoing news of Japan; how she is attempting to
accomplish similar results in China, and the grave menace to the
interests of the United States and the peace of the world which would
attend the success of her efforts in this direction.
Following
publication of these articles in April, 1919, the writer urged upon the
departments in Washington, and subsequently, in September and October,
upon the two subcommittees of Congress having charge of radio
legislation, the utilization of the Navy radio facilities on the
Pacific for news transmission to keep the people of the Far East in
close touch with us, and thus prevent misunderstandings, defeat vicious
propaganda, and avert war.
With the cessation of war
activities the news report of the committee on public information had
to cease, and the Far East, including our own Philippines, would become
again dependent upon unsympathetic and unfriendly, or inimical, news
agencies for its daily information as to the United States, our
sentiments and actions.
Interchange of news across the
Pacific by American news agencies or newspapers under existing
conditions was impracticable. The single American cable when operating
was so congested that 10 to 15 days was required for transmission of a
message, while the rates, either by cable or by radio, were prohibitive.
It
was urged therefore that the Navy be authorized to transmit news
messages across the Pacific at a word rate so low -- a maximum of 6 cents
per word was suggested -- that American news associations would be
encouraged to inaugurate a reliable and adequate daily trans-Pacific
news service, self-supporting and free from Government control or
censorship.
The subcommittees were sympathetic, and bills
looking to the temporary authorization urged, pending permanent
solution of the problem, were introduced in both Houses. Probably
encouraged thereby Vice Admiral W. H. Bullard, director of
communications of the Navy, issued an order effective December 20,
1919, under which news messages would be received at San Francisco for
transmission to Manila by naval radio at 6 cents per word.
As
an immediate result steps are now in progress under which the Manila
newspapers will receive every day a very full report of world's news
from San Francisco. If Congress shall approve the principle involved in
Admiral Bullard's order, a similar report will go to China, and
eventually to Japan, and there will be sent back to us daily a report
covering events and sentiments in the Far East.
With a plan
of this character successfully operating on the Pacific, the same plan
, will be tried elsewhere, and in time the peoples of the earth may
find, through daily interchange of reliable news reports in independent
hands, free from Government suggestion or censorship, a safeguard
against secret diplomacy and the ambitions of rulers for which the
common people must always pay.
CHINESE AWAKENING.
Since
the articles were published, patriotic Chinese mobs have treated
severely the persons and the property of three of the five traitorous
Chinese officials named in Article V. The boycott against Japan and
Japanese goods inaugurated by China in the early part of the year has
grown in strength and determination and has not been affected
apparently, so far as the Chinese people are concerned, by Japan's
threat to the Chinese Government that it might be compelled to resort
to force to stop it. That boycott has been extended to our three
Pacific Coast States -- more particularly California -- where the resident
Chinese have declined to do business in any way with the Japanese.
KOREA'S PLIGHT.
The
estimate of the Korean situation, in a special article made before
reliable information could be secured as to repressive measures adopted
by the Japanese, has been fully confirmed by news since given to the
world. I have myself received a mass of testimony and a large number of
photographs bearing witness to the terrible atrocities committed upon
the persons of the defenseless Koreans -- men, women, and children -- apparently with the same object which the Germans had in committing
atrocities in Belgium, to subordinate by terror a subject people.
The
copy of the Korean manifesto or declaration of independence, brought
out from Seoul on March 6 in my money belt, is the daddy of all the
copies which have since been given to the world, and now rests in the
archives of the president of the provisional Korean republic -- Dr.
Syngman Rhee, at Washington.
The story of the Philippine
independence intrigue, as told in the last article, has since found
confirmation in the records of congressional committees and
committeemen at Washington, to whom requests were made in 1916 by cable
and letter that independence be not granted to the islands unless the
United States would guarantee that independence against the world.
V. S. McClatchy.
Sacramento, January 15, 1920.
ARTICLE I. JAPAN'S PROBLEMS AND HOW SHE ATTEMPTS TO SOLVE THEM.
HER
GOVERNMENT AND HER METHODS COPIED AFTER GERMANY -- ROOM REQUIRED FOR HER
GROWING POPULATION -- THE CHARACTER OF HER PEOPLE -- HOW HER INTENTIONS HAVE
BEEN CONCEALED.
The man who, in a strange land, finds more
interest in observing the customs of the people and investigating
economic and political conditions than in ordinary sightseeing can not
fail to conceive admiration for the Japanese people after even a short
stay in Japan.
He finds them possessed of a number of
admirable traits which might well be emulated in America and which will
account in part for the wonderful progress made by the Japanese Nation
in two generations in modeling herself on the lines of western
civilization and taking position as one of the world powers.
The
people are industrious and thrifty to the last degree. They are
disciplined from childhood, and have inbred in them a deference for
superiors, a respect for law and authority, which never leaves them.
There are no tramps and no vicious idle.
EVERY CHILD GOES TO SCHOOL.
Their
percentage of literacy is 100 -- greater than that of the United States,
which prides herself on public schools and newspapers and general
intelligence. The coolie who draws your rickshaw, or who labors at the
docks, can read and write his language, and his language is one of the
most difficult on earth to learn. And the Japanese newspapers have
large circulations.
The Japanese are ambitious, trained to utilize each moment, and eager to improve themselves.
A COURTEOUS PEOPLE.
They
are courteous. The stranger traveling in Japan and unused to the
customs of the country and unfamiliar with the language will always
find some Japanese, not of the official class, who speaks enough
English, who will put himself out to serve the stranger. In Kyoto, the
ancient capital, thoroughly Japanese and not spoiled, as are the ports,
by contact with western civilization, we had a card of introduction, by
means of which we hoped to see the interior of the house of a wealthy
Japanese. The lady of the house received us, our jinrikisha coolie,
with the card in his hand, acting as our introducer and interpreter.
And he did it with all the confidence and readiness of a Sir Walter
Raleigh, with the strict observance of bows and compliments called for
by Japanese etiquette, and, what was most surprising to us, with a
natural grace of manner.
MODELED AFTER GERMANS.
It
is true that in a railroad train in Korea Mrs. McClatchy had to request
a Japanese sergeant to remove his stockinged feet from the seat
opposite so that she might sit down, but it is to be remembered,
against this, that in Berlin German officers before the war would shove
ladies off the narrow sidewalks, and the Japanese have modeled
themselves in many ways after the Germans, and small officials are
inclined to be self-important and arbitrary. The high-class Japanese
are commencing to observe more and more, however, the deference toward
women which they find in Americans.
The Japanese impressed
me as being generally superior in physical fitness to other peoples,
due in part, perhaps, to their outdoor life and their simple food, but
above all to physical training, which is compulsory in all schools. In
two weeks in Japan, circulating freely among the crowds, I saw only two
spindle-shanked children. Babes and youths alike seemed sturdily built,
happy, and healthy.
THE GERMANY OF ASIA.
But the
same man who freely admires these qualities in the Japanese can not
travel through other portions of the Far East, and particularly Korea,
Manchuria, and China, with opportunities for observation and
investigation, without realizing that Japan is the Germany of Asia,
with an ambition somewhat similar to that of her model, but limited
possibly to eastern Asia, instead of the world, while her methods are
just as relentless and unscrupulous.
The Great War gave her
an opportunity of which she took full advantage, and the armistice came
to her as a sickening shock, for she thought Germany could not be
beaten. The world which had its hands so full in Europe that it was
forced to ignore the progress of events in Asia is now checking up on
Japan and her plans, with the probability that those plans will have to
be materially modified.
A PUBLIC DUTY TO TELL FACTS.
The
United States particularly is entitled to a knowledge of the facts, and
he who has acquired them owes a public duty to make them known.
The
three Pacific Coast States, having had some experience with the
Japanese and some knowledge of Japanese character, will be prepared to
accept these facts. The remaining portions of the United States,
outside of some officials at Washington, are not yet prepared to
believe them, their only sources of information up to this time having
been such as are skillfully provided through Japanese propaganda, which
convey innocuous generalities and friendly assurances calculated to
encourage ignorance and to lull suspicion.
These sources
comprise not only professional Japanese propagandists and a number of
Japanese-American societies organized, in instances, by Americans with
good intent, but skillfully used to deceive by the Japanese, but also
Americans of national prominence who have unwittingly permitted
themselves to be used.
HOW PROPAGANDA IS SPREAD.
There
are men like Gary, the steel man, who with his wife was royally
entertained in Japan, and in interviews on his return gave as the
correct index to the far-eastern situation the point of view furnished
by his entertainers, which was quite at variance with the facts; men
like Jacob Schiff, the New York banker, who recently declared at a
banquet that Americans should be very glad to see Japan in control of
the Far East, as they would then know that their interests would be
well cared for -- and Schiff's information, according to his statement,
was acquired in a visit to Japan 13 years ago; men in various
professions and lines of business who permitted themselves to be
entertained and perhaps decorated by the Japanese Government and
officials, and accepted their explanation of the situation at its face
value, without attempt at investigation.
Such men, in view
of the story which I have to tell, and which is only what any business
firm or diplomat closely in touch with far-eastern matters knows, are
committing -- unknowingly of course -- a national crime in thus misleading
the public that trusts them, in an important matter and at a critical
time.
MADE CLOSE STUDY.
The Californian is
supposed by his eastern friends to be prejudiced against the Japanese;
but a newspaper man is more or less of a trained investigator. In this
matter, in order to be sure of the facts, after going through China and
Korea, on my return to Japan, I put myself in touch with
Japanese authorities and with Americans who had absorbed the Japanese
point of view in order that misinformation received by me might be
detected. In addition, I confess, as is indicated in the introduction
to this article, to admiration of the Japanese people for certain
traits and national accomplishments.
Among other prominent
Japanese I met Zumoto, one of the big men of Japan, a journalist
without official position, but who occupies with the present Japanese
administration a standing similar to that filled by Col. House in
President Wilson's entourage. Zumoto speaks perfect English, has met
many of the prominent men of the world, and is a man of views. In a
two-hour interview at the Tokyo Club he discussed in the frankest
manner the policies and mistakes of Japan, answering without hesitation
the questions which I put to him, the understanding being that much of
the interview was not for publication, but for my information only.
CONFIDENT OF FACTS.
I
have discussed various phases of the eastern problem in the same way
with resident managers of the great American corporations doing
business in the Far East and intimately familiar with the conditions.
So that I am confident my facts are right, and the story which I have
to tell must stand or fall in the minds of those who read it, by the
facts rather than by opinions of mine.
Always the excuse is
made for Japan in doing the things she has done and in following the
present apparent policy that she has her own vital problem and is
driven by stern national necessity. There is force in that plea and it
is given place here before the story is told.
RAPID INCREASE IN POPULATION.
Japan's
population increases more rapidly than that of any people on the earth
except the Koreans. The records of the past show that she may be
expected to double her population in 50 years. I assume that rate would
be increased by more general adoption of modern sanitary methods (there
is not yet in Japan, even in Tokyo with its 2,000,000 people, a sewer
system) and that it might be decreased by improved standards of living
and by progress of woman's rights and possible adoption in the future
of woman suffrage.
At all events the population increases
every year by 700,000 or more, and the problem is where to put them,
for Japan's population is already dense. Sixty thousand or 70.000 a
year are going to Hokkaido, the northern of the island group; where the
climate is colder, but it is found the Japanese can adapt themselves to
conditions there. Some are going to Manchuria and some to Siberia. Some
are going to South America, where a satisfactory understanding has been
had with several of the countries that find Japanese labor desirable.
WANTS MORE ELBOW ROOM.
These
outlets, it is claimed, are insufficient, and Japan must have the right
of "peaceful penetration" into China in order to provide for her excess
population. She insists, however, through those who talked with me,
that she does not demand exceptional rights in China, but is willing to
share with all other nations the privileges granted her there.
That
sounds fair enough; but the facts will show that Japan has demanded and
sought to secure exceptional and exclusive rights in China; that she is
even now working along that line; that in districts where she has been
able to carry out her plans other nationalities could not now secure a
footing without giving excuse for war between China and Japan; and that
if Japan insists on carrying out the plans which are now plainly
outlined the interests of the United States will be seriously menaced
and possibly the peace of the world again jeopardized.
UNFAITHFUL TO ALLIES.
In
following her established policy in the Far East, Japan has not only
shown herself an apt pupil of Germany, her arch instructor, but she has
also proved herself an unfaithful partner to her allies, deliberately
taking advantage of their necessities to feather her own nest and to
take from them the very things which she insisted she had no intention
of taking. It is not impossible that when the facts are laid before the
world and her allies find time to look after their own interests, Japan
will undertake with their aid to find some solution of her congested
population problem that does not involve possession or control of the
entire Far East.
TWO SOPHISTICAL PLEAS.
Careful
consideration of the facts offered in these articles will furnish,
also, conclusive answers to two suggestions that have been made as to
the policy of the United States in the Far East.
One of
these suggestions is that we accept the proposition made by Japan and
"peacefully penetrate" or exploit China in partnership with Japan. That
would effectually destroy our prestige in China, where we are now
regarded as the one powerful and disinterested friend she has, while
Japan is regarded as an enemy who seeks her destruction. In this
suggestion Japan aims either at destroying our stand in China, or if it
survives the partnership, then she will share in the benefits.
The
other suggestion is to the effect that we can save future worry and
trouble by turning the Far East over to Japan and permitting her to
work her will on it. That is the plan adopted in the melodrama to save
the adult occupants in the sleigh from the Russian wolves by dropping
one baby after another. In that case safety is secured if the supply of
babies holds out. In the case of the Far East the way is endless,
reaching onward through the generations of future history, and a victim
offered at this time, even if it secured temporary relief, would only
strengthen the Germany of Asia so that it could in the future more
easily exact its demands of us. Besides the United States would lose
too much even at this time by such a surrender.
PUBLICITY, THE ENEMY OF INTRIGUE.
President
Wilson, who has said many good things and done some bad ones, said in
his speech at the League of Nations meeting at New York March 5
concerning publicity and intrigue:
"One of the things the
League of Nations is intended to watch is the course of intrigues.
Intrigue can not stand publicity, and if the League of Nations were
nothing but a great democratic society it would kill intrigue. It is
one of the agreements of this covenant that it is the friendly right of
every nation a member of the league to call attention to anything that
it thinks will disturb the peace of the world, no matter where the
thing is occurring."
It is a pleasure to have in this way
the commendation of the President for telling this story and to realize
that the war censorship powers, if still in force, will not be invoked
to stop it. For, in the absence of a League of Nations, it might be
considered an unfriendly act for the United States to give these facts
to the public, though Washington doubtless knows them; and it is
important and necessary that the American public should learn them
since the President has shown on several notable occasions an
indisposition to take a stand on important international questions
until assured of public sentiment; and public sentiment to be lasting
must be based on a knowledge of the facts.
ARTICLE II. JAPAN'S INTENTION TO CONTROL THE FAR EAST.
A
MILITARY NATION GOVERNED BY A MILITARY PARTY -- HER METHODS FOR SECURING
CONTROL OF CHINA -- AN UNFAITHFUL ALLY AND A DANGEROUS FRIEND.
Japan's
course as the Germany of Asia will be better understood when it is
remembered that she has always been a military nation. The Samurai who
saved and held Japan by the sword are the heroes of Japan's history,
and to her army she unquestionably owes her existence and the place
which she has recently attained among the great powers of the world.
Then,
too, when Japan, about to emerge from her long eastern seclusion into
the light of western civilization, looked about for a model government
to copy, she chose that of Germany as best fitted to her needs and
conditions. German ideas were adopted and German methods followed; the
army was German taught and German organized; police surveillance and
espionage systems were modeled on the German plan; most public
officials speak German and but few speak English; German methods of
efficiency and detail were copied; martial order was cultivated in the
school children who are drilled and whose school caps of military form
indicate the class to which each belongs.
Yes, Japan was
made in the Far East, but she was made over in Germany. She has been
continuously ruled by the military, is ruled by it now, and will be
perhaps for some time. For while the voices of individuals are being
raised in question as to the wisdom of retaining the military in the
saddle save in times of war, in view of a number of recent blunders
with which the rulers are charged, still the military spirit is too
great and the military party too strongly entrenched to be easily
displaced.
Japan in her planned conquest for control of the
Far East has closely followed the methods pursued by Germany up to
1914. It is not unlikely, however, that the fate of Germany in
consistently following up those methods through the World's War will
give Japan cause to pause; and that if the glare of publicity be cast
upon her own course in the Far East she will find in the world's
comment and in diplomatic suggestions sufficient inducement for a
material change of policy.
ADMIRED GERMANY EVEN IN WAR.
It
is known now that Japan's course throughout the war was not that of a
wholehearted enemy of Germany's methods and ambitions, but rather that
of one who, while friendly to and admiring Germany, felt tied by
certain treaty obligations and saw in the war a golden opportunity to
advance her own ambitions.
Japan did not treat harshly enemy
aliens; they were asked to drop out of open business, but they do not
appear to have been otherwise disturbed. I learned of but one action
against an enemy alien -- an aggravated case -- and the German after being
found guilty was fined 300 yen, but the fine was not collected and he
was permitted to depart. It is well known in Japan that the Government
believed Germany could not be beaten and that the end of the war
stunned the nation. This belief will explain much of Japan's policy.
NOT FAITHFUL TO ALLIES.
The
facts show, too, that Japan was not in all things a faithful partner of
the Allies. She took advantage of the predicament of her partners to
advance her own interests in the Far East, often to the injury of
theirs. The unexpected -- to her -- close of the war has left her in an
embarrassing situation, for her objects have not been finally
accomplished, and yet her intentions are plainly evidenced and she is
called upon to offer some explanations and some amends. This language
is undiplomatic, but it represents the cold facts.
In this,
as in other matters, the war will prove a distinct benefit to mankind,
notwithstanding its great cost, for without evidence of the kind the
world, and particularly the trusting United States, might have accepted
Japan's assurances until too late for preventing action.
PUBLICITY WILL HELP.
The
Japanese merchants and business men are only commencing to appreciate
the value of commercial honesty, and the military powers that rule
Japan have sadly soiled her reputation before the world for diplomatic
honesty and national honor. If she had won control of the Far East by
these German methods she could have disregarded the world's criticism.
As it is, publicity, even without public pressure from her allies, will
doubtless do much toward inducing a change in her policy.
Since
the war opened in 1914 Japan has consistently endeavored to force China
by threat and by bribery and by force to accord her special rights and
concessions which would be to the injury of her allies, and has sought
by force and threat to have these concessions kept secret. And in the
case of the 21 demands in 1915 she was guilty of the unparalleled piece
of bad faith of having her ambassadors deny categorically to her allies
and friends whose interests were involved -- notably the United States and
Great Britain -- that such demands had been made or granted.
JAPANESE METHODS.
In
the case of Tsing-tau which she wrested from Germany in order, as she
publicly declared, to return it to China, she first showed a
disposition to retain it as her just share of the spoils, then declared
a willingness to turn it back to China if paid therefore in railroad
and other exclusive concessions; and now it appears that she has
utilized her four years' possession of the place to so change local
conditions and supplant other nationals with Japanese that it will be
practically Japanese territory no matter who holds the nominal title.
Japan
endeavored to force the Chinese Government by bribe and threat to have
Japan appear as spokesman for China at the Paris conference; tried to
have Koo and Wong withdrawn when they faithfully presented China's
cause; threatened the Chinese Government through Obata if it disclosed
any of the secret treaties and concessions which had been wrung from
China during the war, which were inimical to the interests of the other
allies and which the Paris peace conference had shown a desire to see.
These
are only a few of the counts against Japan as a bad partner; some of
the others perhaps will not become public, but they are all placed and
indexed in the foreign offices of the great powers; and a knowledge of
them on the part of the world will undoubtedly secure a change of
policy on the part of Japan, and perhaps assist in dethroning the
military power in Japan that is responsible for them. They are briefly
referred to now, as they help to make easy an understanding of matters
to follow.
CONTROL OF CHINA.
Japan's main
efforts for the past four or five years have been directed at securing
control of China. Dr. Kengiro Yamakawa, president of the Imperial
University of Tokyo, recently said in the Nichi-Nichi, one of the
prominent Japanese dailies:
"If Japan would abandon the
policy of expansion it would no doubt put an end to Chinese suspicion
of us. But such can not and could not be done. It would expose Japan to
danger to her national existence. Japanese expansion in China has
always been economic, and there is no reason why it should not continue
to be so."
Dr. Yamakawa might have added with equal truth
that if Japan were permitted to take what she wishes in China her
penetration of that country would be entirely peaceful.
STANDING CHINA UP WITH GUN.
It
has been stated often, too, that Japan wishes no exclusive privileges
or rights in China, but is only anxious to have an equal chance with
all other nations. Nothing could be fairer in sound -- but the facts show
that Japan has been standing China up with a gun and demanding
exclusive concessions and the right to dictate the financial, military,
and commercial future of the country; to control its revenues; to
command its army; to manage its mines -- pointing unerringly to the
undoing of China and the elimination of the interests of all other
countries therein. She has done this in cool disregard of the fact that
she was acting as an unfaithful partner, robbing her allies of their
commercial assets in the Far East, while they were fighting for
national existence and the liberty of the world in Europe. She has done
it in the belief that Germany would win with this kind of policy in
Europe and that she could win with it in Asia. In pursuance of her
policy of securing control of the Far East, and particularly of China,
Japan has attempted a number of things as enumerated below, some of
which will be discussed in future articles.
THINGS JAPAN HAS ATTEMPTED.
1.
Her plans for propaganda have been elaborate, including the use of
newspapers in America and the Far East, the making of opinion by
entertainment of prominent visitors, speeches, and interviews by her
diplomats, use of Japan-American societies. She has secured some of the
best results from prominent men susceptible to social flattery, who
accepted what they saw without investigation.
2. She has
controlled for years the incoming and outgoing news of Japan and it is
sterilized and colored so as to best serve the purpose of propaganda.
3. She is attempting to secure similar control of the incoming and outgoing news of China.
4. She is attempting to secure by loans and otherwise control of news communication in China -- telephone and telegraph lines.
5.
She is attempting to secure rail communication by loans for roads
building, or in grant for new roads; and to obtain exclusive control of
minerals and raw material.
6. She has insisted that China
should not borrow from others or make grants to others, save with
Japan's consent, and that the Chinese Army should be, in effect,
controlled by Japanese.
PROMOTES STRIFE, THEN SENDS ARMY.
7.
She has sought to promote civic strife in China as an excuse for
entering with her army. The trouble between the North and South is kept
alive largely by Japanese influence. She has loaned the money to
support the army of the North, whose existence threatens natural peace.
The peace conference at Peking between the two sections failed, it is
said, because of Japanese influence.
8. She maintains under
salary in official position in China provocateurs -- peace disturbers -- to
prevent the creation of a unified government or the adoption of
effective opposition to her plans. These are usually, though not
always, Chinese who have been educated in Japan, and are for that
reason more amenable to Japanese influence.
9. She has
sought through these various avenues to keep the outside world in
ignorance as to the real facts in the Far East, to cause disruption
among forces that might oppose her, to cause distrust in China and the
Far East generally of the United States.
THE WAR'S END CAUSES
EMBARRASSMENT.
During the war Japan found it easy to take
what she wanted. Since the armistice she has encountered unexpected
obstacles. She expected to secure control of the Siberian railroad; she
hoped for an expression from the Paris peace conference on "racial
discrimination" which would open the United States, Canada, and
Australia to her emigrants on equal terms with other Nations. She
desired as a reward for her participation in the war possession of
Tsingtau and a free hand in China.
Instead she finds a
growing distrust of her throughout the world as the facts come to
light, and a warning from a few of her thinking and independent
statesmen -- Osaki for one -- that her present militaristic methods are
carrying her to a fall, and that unless she mends her ways, the world,
including those whom she counts on as friends, will he allied against
her.
In her operations in Siberia she has succeeded in
losing the good will of all her allies -- first by breaking her pledge and sending in 73,000 Japanese soldiers when the understanding called for
12,000 only, with 7,000 from the United States and a small number from
England and France, and next by the uncontrolled and autocratic actions
of three independent military units, each acting on its own authority,
and indulging in such by-play as the arrest of English generals and the
inquisition of French colonels. These things are not spoken of
publicly, and the real statesmen of Japan deplore them, but they stand
as Japan's acts so long as she is ruled by the military party.
ARTICLE III. OUR COMMERCIAL ASSET IN CHINA.
A
GOOD WILL AND CONFIDENCE UNIQUE IN THE RELATIONS OF NATIONS -- HOW IT IS
THREATENED BY JAPANESE PROPAGANDA IN JAPANESE INTERESTS -- THE PARTNERSHIP
JAPAN OFFERS US.
To understand the effect on the integrity
of China, upon the interests of the United States, and upon the peace
of the world of the policy of Japan in the Far Fast -- and reference is
had to the policy inexorably pointed out by her acts and not to that
innocent substitute which she courteously acknowledges to the world -- it
is necessary to refer to some incidents which are not generally borne
in mind by the American public, though they are readily ascertained
through inquiry.
THE SENTIMENT OF CHINA.
First,
as to the sentiment of China toward the United States. I had
opportunity to learn it by intercourse with representatives of all
classes of Chinamen in Hongkong, Canton, Shanghai, and Peking,
sometimes speaking in English and sometimes where necessary
communicating through an interpreter. Whether it was a building
contractor in charge of construction of a million-dollar modern
department store in Canton; a wealthy abbot and patriot entertaining me
in his garden beside a bronze Buddha 1,500 years old, and in the shade
of an immense pagoda hoary with age; a wealthy merchant; a student; a
coolie; the plague expert of China; a justice of the supreme court; the
physician in charge of sanitation on the Government railways; a Chinese
editor; a newspaper business manager, with up-to-date Western ideas and
a wonderful plant; whether he had been educated in America, in England,
at Oxford College, Hongkong, or even in Japan -- there was always one
message for Americans spoken with touching enthusiasm and feeling. It
was a message of love and appreciation for what Americans had done in
the past, absolute confidence in their disinterested friendship as
demonstrated by their acts, and a hope that the same kindly leading
hand would help China to preserve her nationality and survive the
dangers by which she is threatened.
NO NATION EVER BEFORE SO FAVORED.
It is a feeling such as no nation, so far as I know, has ever before in the world's history entertained for an alien people.
It
is a sentiment which unfortunately permits the Chinese at times to be
victimized by some sharper taking advantage of his American standing to
add to his bank roll. There was the man who proposed to sell to the
Chinese Government several million dollars' worth of locomotives, and
who secured a large advance in cash on the order, but who was found on
later investigation to have no connection with the Baldwin Locomotive
Works, which he claimed to represent. The police of the United States,
I understand, are still looking for him.
A more satisfactory
manifestation of the sentiment was found in the spontaneous
contributions from Chinese to the American Red Cross. I heard of one
man, a small farmer in the interior, who walked 10 miles in order to be
able to send in by post office messenger a contribution of a dollar -- all
he could afford -- with a note expressing his gratitude as a Chinaman for
what America had done.
FEELING IS UNANIMOUS.
I
was told by Americans long resident in China -- newspaper men and
others -- that this feeling is practically unanimous among the Chinese,
and that it extends far back into the interior, where presumably
knowledge of world happenings does not penetrate.
Consider
this sentiment as a commercial asset and see what it means. China has a
population of 400,000,000, and its purchasing power, already great,
will become enormous when under intelligent and kindly aid its
resources are developed, education made general, the status and wages
of the laborer increased, and standards of living raised. Its
purchasing power then will be greater than that of any other nation on
the face of the earth.
BUSINESS OURS FOR ASKING.
The
foreign business of this nation is ours for the asking, and assuming
only intelligent handling and fair treatment, and involving no
violation of national rights, commercial ethics, and no unfairness to
any other nation, whether ally or not. Do we want that business, and
will we take steps to protect it? This, entirely apart from the
consideration of justice in preventing the further subjugation of Asia
by a nation that might be induced in the future to use its augmented
power against the balance of the world, and particularly against the
United States.
It becomes evident, too, why Japan, aside
from her desire to absorb China, or to so control it as to lead in time
to its absorption, and possibly as an aid to attainment of that
ambition seeks to cause such distrust of the United States in the Far
Fast as will minimize our influence there and induce the Chinese to
look elsewhere for friendly counsel and aid.
MUST NULLIFY JAPANESE PROPAGANDA.
If
the United States only takes the necessary steps to nullify the vicious
propaganda undertaken by Japan for this purpose and to insure and
maintain between us and the Far East that intimate knowledge of each
other that will prevent future misunderstanding, Japan will be
powerless to accomplish her purposes. For in this, as in some other
matters, this Great War, terrible as has been the misery and the toll,
has served a wise and a beneficent purpose, giving the Far East a
warning that need only be heeded to insure protection and peace in that
part of the world.
Japan, confident that Germany could not
be beaten, certain that the war would drag on for some time, and seeing
in the preoccupation of her allies her opportunity to work her plans in
the Far East, abandoned all semblance of guile and persuasion with her
intended victims and plainly demanded with the necessary threats the
things she wanted immediately with reservations for the future. The
armistice came like a thunderbolt before her plans had been fully
consummated, and now as the facts become known, she stands forth as the
Germany of the Pacific, relentless and implacable, willing to use any
means to secure her ends.
HER INTENTIONS TOWARD CHINA.
What
she has done in Korea and in Manchuria she intended to do in China, and
her protestations at this time are sufficiently contradicted by her
acts.
In 1894, when Japan made war upon China, it was, she
claimed, partly to insure the independence of Korea, and the peace of
Shimonoseki recognized that independence. In 1904 Japan warred with
Russia because that power threatened the independence of Korea; and in
1910 Japan calmly annexed Korea on the assumption, presumably, that it
would be easier thus to maintain its independence!
In
Manchuria Japan sought ostensibly only peaceful penetration, a railroad
franchise, and some mining rights. She gradually assumed control
through her army, and now she rules it with the relentless methods of a
Prussian-taught army. The stories told by American engineers of the
present "peaceful penetration" of Manchuria have placed the Far East,
which has heard them, upon sufficient notice as to Japan's methods.
THE JAPANESE DEFENSE.
Japan's
defense in this matter, as made by Baron Makino at Paris in February,
and published throughout the country, consists partly of reverberating
silence on some issues, and the plea ingenuously made between the lines
that even if guilty, as charged, she is only doing in China what the
European Nations have done. Makino calls attention to the fact that
when Japan, as spoils of victory in the war with China, claimed and
received title and lease to the Liaotung Peninsula (in Manchuria), with
the naval base and fortress of Port Arthur, and the port of Dairen, she
was robbed thereof by the European powers, Russia taking the peninsula,
while England got Wei-Hai-Wei. This peninsula under lease and title
Japan recovered as spoil after her war with Russia.
There is
no reference in Makino's statement to the fact that in 1909, after her
rights as to the Antung-Mukden Railroad had expired, Japan, by force of
arms and against China's protest, completed that road and is now
operating it; and in 1915, while Europe was at war, forced China to
extend to the year 2002, instead of 1923, the year when she would
secure control of this road.
What Japan has done in Tsingtao
and its hinterland, Kiachau, in order to force territory which she took
from Germany in trust for China, to revert to Japanese control will be
explained in another article.
WHY JAPAN WANTS US IN.
The
situation as indicated in this article will explain also why Japan is
eager to go into partnership with the United States in the exploitation
of China.
There exists throughout China at this time the
most bitter hatred of Japan since her intentions have become so
evident. If the United States becomes the partner of Japan in working
her pleasure in China, the good will of the Chinese which we now enjoy
will disappear and Japan will no longer be under any handicap in
securing Chinese trade. If any of that good will survives the
partnership, then Japan will share equally in the profits. And
incidentally, all hopes of China saving herself from the destiny
intended for her as a subject of Japan will disappear, while the United
States will find the fruits of partnership turn to ashes, for Japan has
continually shown a clever ingenuity in taking the spoils and leaving
her partners with an empty bag.
In such a partnership the
United States would secure no profit, and she would lose all the
prestige and honor which has come to her through generations of fair
dealing.
WE WOULD LOSE ALL.
In the situation as
described is found answer, also, to the suggestion that the United
States has no concern in the Far East, and that she can save herself
future trouble by permitting Japan to work her will there.
The
United States can no longer live within herself. She must have trade
relations with the balance of the world; and she can not afford to
throw away the opportunity to secure the trade of China now offered
her. Aside from that, consideration for her own future safety and for
the peace of the world would forbid allowing Japan to carry out her
plans, which have been prematurely exposed by the close of the war.
ARTICLE IV. JAPAN'S CONTROL OF FAR EAST NEWS.
HOW
SHE UTILIZES IT TO FURTHER HER INTERESTS -- DEFENSIVE MEASURES ADOPTED BY
THE UNITED STATES -- NECESSITY FOR AN ADEQUATE AMERICAN -- CONTROLLED
TRANS-PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE -- CABLE SERVICE INADEQUATE.
For
years Japan has pursued a shrewd and well-organized system of
propaganda designed to conceal from the Western World a general
knowledge of her real purposes in the Far East, to maintain friendly
relations with nations whose interests she was steadily undermining,
and to create among the powers concerned in the Far East a mutual
distrust of each other which would prevent concert of action against
her. Because of the disinterested position of the United States and its
consequent influence, particularly in China, this propaganda has been
used within the past few years to injure the American prestige in the
Far East.
HOW PROPAGANDA IS SPREAD.
A previous
article referred to various means utilized in spreading this
propaganda, including prominent Americans who had been entertained in
Japan and carefully coached on one side of the question and who became
earnest and innocent propagandists! Japan-American societies for the
ostensible promotion of friendly feeling and commercial business,
entered into by Americans and by some Japanese perhaps in perfect good
faith; hired propagandists of various types who traveled in America,
and control of the news of the Far East.
Students of the
news have wondered why we know so little of the Far East; why there
seldom comes anything prejudicial to Japan; why when a short special of
that character does get through, it is promptly denied or lengthily
explained away until the original charge sinks out of sight. The
traveler in the Far East is surprised to find practically no news of
America, but considerable of London, in the newspapers on the eastern
Asiatic coast, and rarely anything of importance from America that is
distasteful to prominent far-eastern interests.
HOW NEWS IS CONTROLLED.
The
explanation is that the news of the Far East is controlled practically
by Reuter, a British news agency, and by Japan, and the two have formed
a combination. Before the war Germany presented her interests to the
people of the Far East through the Wolff agency and the Ostasiatische
Lloyd, a ramification of Wolff.
Except during a few months
this year and last year, when the committee on public information sent
American news across the Pacific, the Far East for many years has
received its news of the United States through Reuter, the report being
prepared at New York for British tastes, blue penciled by British hands
at London, expurgated, clarified, and interpreted by British hands at
Shanghai, where British feeling against Americans has been most marked,
and thence distributed.
REUTER'S ADVANTAGES.
During
the first years of the Great War, when the United States was neutral,
this Reuter service was very effectively used to so misinterpret
American sentiment and acts as to create a strong prejudice against us.
Reuter
has discriminatory rates over the far-eastern cables, which are
generally under British control, which would have made it impractical
for an American news report to go over in competition. And again, the
Associated Press has until recently regarded its proper sphere as
within the United States. Last January, however, it commenced a
complete leased wire daily report by cable to the leading newspapers of
South America at their request.
TRADES WITH JAPANESE AGENCY.
Some
years ago Reuter retired from Japan in favor of the Kokusai, the Japan
National News Agency, a Government-controlled organization. Under that
arrangement the Kokusai receives from Reuter the world news and
distributes it through Japan after it has been properly sterilized
according to Japanese standards. The news of Japan, which Reuter
distributes over the world under the Reuter label, is that which the
Kokusai determines should go out of Japan.
One result of
this news control was observed at the time of the armistice. The world
knew for a week or 10 days that things were leading inevitably to the
signing of the armistice -- it knew for 30 days or more that the defeat of
the Germans was rapidly approaching. This news was suppressed by
Kokusai, and Japan knew nothing of it until the announcement of the
signing of the armistice came like a thunderbolt; and in one week there
are said to have been failures in Japan amounting to $50,000,000. Some
favored corporations which are said to be close to the Government had
the tip and shoved off on an unsuspecting market as much of doubtful
securities as the market could take.
CABLE DELAYS 10 TO 14 DAYS.
While
the Associated Press and a few American dailies have special
correspondents in the Far East, the cable facilities across the Pacific
are so inadequate and the rates so high that a satisfactory news
service can not be maintained. During the years of the war it took from
10 to 14 days to get a cable message across the Pacific.
JAPAN'S CONTROL OF CHINESE PAPERS.
As Japan has control of the news of Japan, so is she attempting to control the news of China, both incoming and outgoing.
In
pursuance of that policy, she has secured ownership or control of a
number of the Chinese vernacular newspapers located in the larger
cities, and controls also some English language newspapers, including
two in Shanghai. In Canton, where no Chinese newspaper could be
purchased, a new one was started by Japanese interests.
The
vernacular newspapers controlled by Japan are registered with the
Japanese consulate and claim extraterritorial rights, including trial
by the Japanese consul, so, that they are practically immune from
Chinese laws or courts, or official displeasure. In consequence they
can vilify and blackmail without check or redress, and this power is
freely used to silence or coerce Chinese officials and patriots who do
not bend themselves to the Japanese will. The Chinese newspapers
conducted on a business basis and responsible to the courts for debts
and utterances face in this situation an unfair and very trying
competition.
A NEWS AGENCY IN CHINA.
Japan has
also organized in China a news collecting and distributing agency
called the Far Eastern News Agency, which has the aid of Japanese
consular agents in the various cities in collecting news and the
assistance of the Japanese code books in transmitting it. This agency
offers its service of world and China news to the vernacular newspapers
at a price which would not pay for office rent. As an added inducement
it offers registration at the Japanese consulate and the protection
afforded thereby so long as the editor is "good."
This
service is devoted largely to Japanese propaganda, and is even more
dangerous to the newspapers that rely on it for a complete service
because of what it suppresses. It is carefully designed to keep from
the Chinese the local and foreign news which it is not in Japan's
interests to have known, or to so color and modify it as to make it
serve the purpose.
THE "COMPUB" NEWS SERVICE.
The
control of the news has been used of late years deliberately for
creating prejudice against America and injury to American interests,
either by what it failed to tell or by what it told only partly or
incorrectly, to such an extent that the United States last year,
through its committee on public information, essayed to keep the Far
East advised of America's aims and acts in the war by establishing a
daily service of its own.
The "compub" report, as it was
called, was wirelessed each day from San Diego (afterwards from San
Francisco) and caught at Cavite (Philippine Islands), from which point
it was relayed to China, being caught at Shanghai by the French
wireless and at Peking by the United States wireless in the American
concession.
GIVEN TO NEWSPAPERS.
At Manila it was
used by the three American newspapers and (after translation) by the
five vernacular newspapers. It was briefed also, and transmitted to the
various islands of the Philippine group for publication or posting.
In
Shanghai, Peking, and Tien Tsin it was available at once for English or
American newspapers, and elsewhere could be received by mail or by
wire. In addition, it was briefed and translated into Chinese, under
direction of Carl Crow, representing the committee on public
information, and mailed to all the Chinese newspapers that cared to
receive and use it -- between 200 and 300.
OFFERED ALSO TO JAPANESE.
From
Guam the report was cabled, at expense of the committee, to Japan,
where it was used by the few American newspapers, and a part of
it -- particularly the speeches of President Wilson -- translated into
Japanese, and offered to the Japanese dailies, which quoted freely
therefrom.
Later the report was caught at Vladivostok, wired to Irkutsk and Omsk, and distributed by mail to other points.
In
addition, after the Paris conference commenced, an excellent report
thereof was sent by wireless from Lyons in France, caught at
Vladivostok, Peking, Shanghai, and Cavite, and distributed therefrom.
In
this way the Far East was kept advised of the position of the United
States and the vicious propaganda of Japan lost most of its effect. The
report, however, was not an adequate news report of world's affairs,
was only a war measure operated under war authority, has already been
discontinued in some places, and must soon cease in others if it has
not already ceased everywhere.
EXCHANGE OF NEWS NECESSARY.
All
American interests in the Far East, diplomatic and commercial, are
unanimous in expressing the opinion that the United States can not
retain the good will of the Far East and can not protect her interests
there in the absence of the exchange of news report across the Pacific
which will keep the United States and the Far East fully advised as to
the acts and sentiments of each other, respectively.
In
China, Chinese newspaper men, statesmen, and business men now recognize
the necessity for securing through an adequate news service, such
knowledge of world affairs that Japan's vicious propaganda may be
offset and her purposes uncovered. In Canton the Chinese have even
started an English language newspaper in order to keep before Americans
and English the things which they should know as to the policy of Japan.
ARTICLE V. JAPAN'S DESIGNS ON CHINA.
THE
SUDDEN TERMINATION OF THE WAR EXPOSES THEM -- HER METHODS OK CREATING
DISSENSION THAT SHE MAY HAVE AN EXCUSE FOR INTERFERING BY FORCE -- THE
PANORAMA OF EVENTS IN CHINA IN FEBRUARY.
In
February of this
year I was in Hongkong, Canton, Shanghai, and Peking, engaged rather in
investigations of conditions than in sightseeing. What I learned then
-- which is only what every one in the Far East who follows the march
of
events knows -- constitutes a complete answer to the suave assurances
made to the world at that same time as to the pacific intentions and
benevolent acts of Japan in China. I shall outline here only the
conditions as they were in February -- equally interesting and
convincing is the history of Japan's policy for the past four years,
incidents of which have been referred to in previous articles and more
of which will be told later.
Incidentally it should be borne
in mind that the ignorance of the general American public as to these
matters of vital concern to them -- as shown in a recent article on the
commercial asset which we have in China's good will -- is due partly to
the difficulties in securing news communication, but more to the
elaborate propaganda of Japan and to her control of the outgoing news
of the Far East.
A PANORAMA OF EVENTS.
In
February there was in session at Canton the old Chinese Parliament of
the new republic, which had been forcibly dissolved some time before by
the former premier with a Chinese army at his back, paid by Japanese
gold. This parliament had reconvened as a protest against the existing
conditions and with the patriotic desire to do what it could to save
China.
At Peking the new parliament was in session, divided
in its councils by the intrigues of Japan, by the demands of the
Japanese paid army, and by the loyal efforts of the faithful guard to
serve the country.
At Shanghai the commissioners from North
China and from South China deliberated in the large building built by
the Germans for a club, but confiscated by China at the declaration of
war. They had come together at the urgent solicitation of the United
States and Great Britain to heal their differences if possible, to put
an end to civil strife, and to present a united China to the outside
world.
In one of the adjoining Provinces the Chinese army
under the orders of its commander, Gen. Usu Shu Cheng -- "Little Hsu," as
he is called to distinguish him from the elder Hsu -- was practicing the
art of warfare on a defenseless people, and as a suggestion that its
demands for more Japanese money be favorably considered. The army was
with the north -- it had been instructed by Germans and Japanese, and its
commanders are under Japanese influence.
On the Wampu, near
Canton, the Chinese navy of a few ships was mobilized. It is British
taught, and it had thrown in its fortunes with the south, whose policy
seems to the foreigners to be more actuated by real love for China.
At
Paris the Chinese peace commissioners, Wellington Koo, ambassador at
Washington, and Wong, also a distinguished Chinese statesman,
endeavored to protect China against the intimidation of Japan and the
traitorous acts of some of her own people.
JAPAN AS TROUBLE BREEDER.
Bear
in mind that all the trouble and disruption which form the subject
matter of this article was directly and deliberately caused by Japan in
furtherance of her own ends, to make the conquest or control of China
more easy and to accomplish it as speedily as possible and before
Europe and America could find time to look after their interests in the
Far East.
The disruption between the north and the south of
China was brought about through the intrigues of Japan, by direct
suggestion and aid, and through means of Chinese officials, many of
them educated in Japan, and all well paid for their treachery.
The
south was assured it was not receiving proper treatment from the north
and that it had the sympathy of the majority of the Japanese people.
The north was told that differences between the people of a nation can
only be settled by military operations and the complete defeat of one
side. Japan, therefore, loaned large sums of money to the new Chinese
Government, controlled by the north, with the express understanding
that certain portions thereof were to be used for military operations
against the south. In thus instigating civil war and then insuring the
victory of the north, Japan felt she was aiding the element which would
be most amenable to Japanese influence and would care least for the
integrity of China.
CHINESE TRAITORS.
The
President of China has the confidence of the patriotic element among
his countrymen, who say that, while he makes apparently no open or
aggressive stand against Japan, he is fully alive to her intentions and
proposes to thwart them, if possible, but is opposing cunning with
cunning. His official family, however, is honeycombed with treachery.
The following five individuals, all educated in Japan and all
comparatively young men, are notoriously paid tools of Japan who have
profited well by their employment: Tsao Ju Lin, minister of
communications; Lu Chung Yu, head of the Sino-Japanese Bank; Gen. Hsu
Shii-cheng, head of the army; Chung, Chinese minister in Japan, and Sze
Li Pen, councillor in the foreign office. The latter acts as
interpreter when Chinese and Japanese commissions or officials discuss
important matters, and honest Chinese officials, I am told, have been
horrified to find that the official record bore testimony that they had
made statements and acceded to conditions quite different from what was
in their minds.
The governors of some of the Provinces are
also Japanese agents. This is openly charged, and apparently proved by
his official acts, against the governor of the Shantung Province, who
is married to a Japanese woman.
The effort to secure through
the Shanghai conference a working agreement between the north and the
south was a failure, though another conference is spoken of. The south
insisted that the north should come in with clean hands and cease
active military operations against unorganized and unarmed people.
Japanese influence was too great, however, and while there was some
oriental sidestepping there was no cessation of hostilities; and the
conference adjourned.
In parliament a measure was introduced
for the demobilization of the army, both in the interests of economy
and because China had no need of an army at this time. This was
promptly met by an ultimatum from the army that the government at once
secure from Japan more of the $20,000,000 loan offered and insure
future payments to the army for some time.
The President and
Chinese loyal statesmen are trying to prevent the taking of more money
from Japan because derelict Government officials have pledged for the
loan some of the Government railways and certain additional
concessions, and Japan is anxious to force the loan on China as one
means of securing possession of the railroads. The end had not come
when I left China, and I have seen no statement covering the matter
since then.
An agent of American financial interests went to
China in March, and it is possible that a readjustment of Chinese
financial affairs may be made by a loan participated in by all the
powers, but in which the United States will predominate. If this
happens, China may be saved from the clutches of Japan.
JAPAN'S DEMAND AT PARIS.
At
Paris Japan asserted the right to speak for China, and when Koo and
Wong combated this Japan tried to have them silenced or recalled,
making use of various threats to secure the purpose.
Under
the Lansing-Ishii agreement between the United States and Japan quasi
recognition is given to some indefinite interests of Japan in China.
President Wilson has not seen fit as yet to make a public explanation
of this remarkable document, though he has had sufficient inquiries. I
can therefore only refer to it. But Japan claims that under this
agreement we have conceded her full control over Chinese affairs, and
this is the claim she attempted to make good at Paris.
In
fact, when President Wilson sent a congratulatory telegram to the
President of the Chinese Republic on the occasion of that Republic's
birthday, the Japanese papers declared his act to be a clear violation
of the Lansing-Ishii agreement and that the United States had no right
to communicate with China save through Japan. That same claim was made
by an English-language newspaper in Shanghai, the Mercury, controlled
by Japanese.
The issue was forced in connection with the
submission to the peace conference of the secret 21 conditions forced
upon China by Japan in 1915, existence of which was denied to the world
by Japan, which threatened China and her officials with severe
penalties if she even mentioned that such conditions had been exacted.
The peace conference had shown a desire to see these conditions and
other secret treaties, and the Chinese commissioners had indicated
their willingness to produce them. Their copies had been stolen from
them as they passed through Japan on their way to Paris, but duplicates
could be secured by wireless if necessary.
Japan used all
her power and influence, first, to have Koo and Wong silenced and Japan
recognized as China's spokesman at Paris, and, failing that, to have
Koo and Wong instructed that the secret treaties forced at the point of
the sword by Japan since August, 1914, should not be produced. Obata,
on behalf of Japan, made at Peking the most serious threats against
China and the officials of her Government if Japan's wishes were not
complied with, and it looked for a while as if China must yield.
PUBLICITY MAY SAVE CHINA.
In
this case publicity defeated Japan and saved China, just as publicity
now, promptly and properly applied, will prevent attainment of Japan's
ultimate ends in the Far East and save the world much tribulation. The
old Parliament at Canton cabled Koo and Wong to stand by their guns;
the commercial bodies and guilds of the leading cities, commencing in
the south and gradually spreading through the north, did the same; and
such public sentiment was speedily created throughout China that the
new Parliament at Peking, notwithstanding the influence of Japan, did
not dare recall Koo and Wong or withdraw their authority, and they were
permitted to go ahead on their own discretion. Fortunate, indeed, for
China that she was represented by such men.
It is little
wonder that China was stirred by these matters into active hatred of
Japan and a boycott of her goods, and that she was impelled to
seriously consider the advice of her friend, the United States, and
endeavor to adjust her internal differences, that she might present a
united front to the enemy. With the aid of her friends on the outside,
and with full exploitation in China of the traitorous acts of Japanese
paid officials of China, she may yet accomplish a workable union of the
Chinese Provinces.
ARTICLE VI. JAPAN'S RECORD IN CHINA.
WHAT
SHE HAS DONE IN KOREA, MANCHURIA, AND SHANGTUNG -- HOW SHE COUNTED ON
ENRICHING HERSELF THROUGH THE WAR -- HER CONTEMPTUOUS TREATMENT OF
AMERICANS.
Japan persistently insists, through diplomatic
channels and by her various clever methods of propaganda, including
American societies and American business men, that she has no designs
on securing the territory of China or any part of it, or any wish for
concessions or privileges which are not open to all other Nations.
Japan's
record is sufficient disproof of her claims of good faith in this
matter, and fortunately perhaps for the world that record during the
war and because of Japanese belief that it was her great opportunity
has been so plainly written that it needs only publicity -- the publicity
which Japan is desperately striving to prevent.
HOW KOREA WAS PROTECTED.
Korea
was under the suzerainty of China. Japan fought two wars -- one with China
and one with Russia -- ostensibly to insure the independence of Korea; and
then appropriated the country herself. The excuse she made was that
Korea is contiguous to Japan -- and therefore offered opportunity for
Japan's enemies to menace her. She afterwards claimed a special sphere
of influence and control of South Manchuria on the plea that an enemy
might occupy it to the injury of Korea. That control of South Manchuria
has since been changed into the most despotic possession under Prussian
methods.
She subsequently insisted that it was necessary for
her to have control in inner Manchuria lest her rights in south
Manchuria should be threatened.
Under that system of reasoning Japan, if unchecked, might claim all of China, and eventually all of Asia.
JAPAN'S PEACEFUL METHODS.
South
Manchuria is occupied in a military way by the Japanese. British and
other nationalities were subjected to the greatest indignities and the
excuse therefore offered by a Japanese vice consul in a particularly
aggravated case was "in the view and contention of the Japanese
Government you are in Japanese territory and must submit to the
Japanese who are the ruling authority in the East and must be obeyed."
Italian
troops passing through Manchuria on their way to Siberia were hampered
in their progress after leaving the south Manchurian Railroad by the
demand of the Japanese that their authority and not that of Russia be
recognized. The Chinese who presumably have some little claim on the
territory were not even permitted to entertain the Italians.
Japanese
subjects made attacks on the American consuls at Dalny and Newchang and
on the wife of the American consul at Mukden. At Mukden in April, 1915,
when Japan was insisting on acceptance by China of the 21 demands, a
body of Japanese troops marched through the Walled City, into which
they had no right to enter, and maneuvered for 15 minutes in front of
the American consulate general.
JAPAN'S WIRELESS STATIONS.
Japan
has put up a wireless station without any authority and in violation of
China's sovereignty at Tsinan Fu, on the railway from Peking to Mukden.
She has installed another in the center of China at Hankow, 500 miles
up the Yangtze River, and maintains a garrison there, both against
China's protests. The wireless is powerful and prevents the American
and British gunboats patrolling the river from communicating with each
other.
Japan has installed another wireless at Tsingtau,
which place she took from Germany to return to China but is still
holding. At Dairen, the Japanese wireless station in the Kwangtung
leasehold is apparently used to prevent communication between or with
ships for a distance of 1,500 miles. The Pacific Mail frequently can
not communicate with her ships coming into Shanghai.
THE STORY OF TSINGTAU.
The
history of Tsingtau and its hinterland, Kiaochou, very aptly
illustrates the methods of Japan, and indicates how much sincerity
there is in her protestations of good faith. Germany secured possession
of this port and the hinterland in consideration for the massacre of
two German missionaries. She probably would have been willing to trade
more missionaries on similar terms. She made elaborate improvements in
town and port on modern lines.
When Germany in 1914 was
called on by Japan to surrender the territory, she agreed to give it
back to China if compensated for improvements made. Japan would not
consent to this.
Japan in her ultimatum declared to Germany
that Tsingtau was to be turned over to China. She made the same
statement in response to an inquiry from the United States as to her
intentions.
REGARDS TSINGTAU AS SPOILS.
She has,
however, regarded Tsingtau as a spoil of war which should be given to
her in recognition of her services to the Allies. She forced on China
secret treaties which would extend indefinitely her rights there and
would give her practical possession of the town and the port.
She
imposed a condition in one secret treaty by which in event of
restoration of Tsingtau to China a concession under the exclusive
jurisdiction of Japan was to be established at a place to be designated
by the Japanese Government; if the foreign powers desired an
international concession it might be chosen afterwards; and the
disposal of buildings and property formerly held by Germany was to be a
matter of "mutual" agreement between the Chinese and Japanese
Government. The mutuality of an agreement of that sort as shown by
China's history would be something like that between the German
military governor of Belgium and an honest and patriotic Belgian mayor
in 1917.
HAS ALREADY SELECTED SITE.
Japan has
already selected the site of the concession which is to be under her
exclusive jurisdiction. "It constitutes the most important part of
Tsingtau, including the port, the principal railway station, and
practically all the revenue-producing utilities," as explained by the
Japan Chronicle of Kobe.
Through discriminatory regulations
and taxes the Chinese and other nationals were forced out of Tsingtau
to a great extent and Japanese took their places. The government lands,
revenues from which had been devoted to improvement of the city by the
Germans, were sold at nominal prices to Japanese syndicates which
proceeded to install manufacturing enterprises thereon. The French were
asked to give up the land on which their tennis courts were located and
refused. They were about to be forced when Great Britain and France
protested. Japan desisted. The war came on, and Japan through
discriminatory taxes forced confiscation of the land.
DEMANDS CONCESSIONS FIRST.
In
response to various suggestions as to turning over Tsingtau to the
Chinese, for over four years Japan said nothing publicly. A few months
ago, the war having closed, she intimated her willingness to consider
turning it back if China would pay therefore by valuable railroad and
other concessions. It transpires now that secret treaties forced on
China had provided for such an adjustment.
Now it is said
that even if Tsingtau be turned back to China it still will be
controlled by the Japanese, and if China attempts to restore former
conditions Japan will seize upon it as a pretext for war. She has used
her four years of possession so that the interests of China and of
Japan's partners and allies will be effectually wiped out. It remains
to be seen whether the peace conference and the Allies and the United
States will stand for this arrangement.
ALREADY REACHING FARTHER.
With
her power thus established in Tsingtau and its hinterland of Kiaochou,
Japan, following her established principle, sought control of the
entire Province of Shantung, the plea being that such control was
necessary to protect her rights in Tsingtau. The Chinese Government was
forced by the same secret treaty method "to give full assent to all
matters upon which the Japanese Government may hereafter agree with the
German Government relating to the disposition of all rights, interests,
and concessions which Germany, by virtue of treaties or otherwise,
possesses in relation to the Province of Shantung."
Under
another secret agreement, this time made with the Chinese minister to
Tokyo in 1918, but never ratified by the Chinese Government, the
control of the Shantung Railway, running through the Province, and of
the entire railway zone, becomes Japanese without qualification and
without time limit. Article 6 of that agreement guards against any
disturbance of Japan's position by the peace conference, for it
provides that, regardless of what disposition shall be made as to
ownership of the railway, it shall be placed under joint management of
China and Japan. Japan, through Obata, insisted that this agreement did
not need ratification by the Chinese Government, being purely a
"commercial agreement."
HOW IT WAS DONE.
The
Japanese Government last autumn advanced $10,000,000 to China, through
her trusted representatives, in return for the transfer to Japan of the
options allowed Germany in 1913 on an extension of the line to the
Peking-Hankow Railway, with an option on construction of a branch from
Kaomi to Hsuchow, at which point it would make connection with the
Belgian transcontinental line from the sea coast to Turkestan. China
has not yet learned what became of all the money. Some of it,
apparently, was used for fostering trouble between north and south
China, by supplying arms and pay for an army for the north. Clearly
there was something crooked about this agreement on the part of some
one in China, for, when China offered to expose the secret treaties to
the Paris conference, Japan threatened to publish, and did publish,
this Shantung Railway agreement.
Baron Makino, in February,
made a defense of Japan's acts in China for the Paris conference, in
the course of which he said that the details of this agreement as to
Tsingtau and Shantung had not been made public under a mutual
understanding, and because they were preliminary to certain business
matters, as yet in an incomplete stage. He stated positively, however,
that "the agreement is in no sense oppressive, nor does it provide for
illegitimate or arbitrary control by Japan of any territory or China's
territorial rights."
"THE GERMANY OF ASIA."
It is
true that some conditions of some of these secret agreements do not
seem onerous to an outsider, if in force between two nations of equal
strength and good faith. The best information as to what they mean for
China, and other nations, is to read in the record made by Japan's acts
her interpretation of the powers which these agreements confer. The
record is conclusive. Nothing else is necessary to establish the
justice of the title of these articles -- "The Germany of Asia." In
Shantung, with a military controlled railway zone and Chinese
officials bribed to complacency, Japan has been running things very
much as in Manchuria. The methods were made in Germany, but the
Japanese are apt pupils.
ARTICLE VII. THE KOREAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT.
A REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF PASSIVE RESISTANCE BY A NATION OF 20,000,000 PEOPLE -- THE
GERMAN-LIKE REPRESSIVE MEASURES OF JAPAN -- SHE AIMS TO DEPRIVE THE
KOREANS OF LANGUAGE, RECORDED HISTORY, AND NATIONAL IDENTITY.
No
man may know, until under exceptional advantages he has investigated
the facts on the ground, how the march of events in the Far East has
been concealed from western eyes for years past by a thick veil,
devised partly by Japanese cunning, and owing its effectiveness largely
to the world's absorption in other matters. Material aid, too, was had
from inadequate and congested cable facilities, which did not transmit
ordinary business or personal messages -- no matter how pressing -- across
the ocean in less than 10 to 14 days. War put the wireless in
Government hands, barring private messages and news service, and made
excuse for a censorship which has been used to the limit; so that, even
since the armistice, we see things through that veil in such indistinct
or distorted fashion that we know really nothing, and what we think we
know we must some day unlearn.
So it is that the western
world has not learned yet the genesis, the meaning, and the real facts
concerning the Korean independence demonstration commencing on March
1 -- perhaps the most wonderful instance of national self-control and
organized passive resistance for accomplishment of an ideal that the
world has ever known. It is too early to prophesy, but it seems not
unlikely that this Korean demonstration ultimately will have an effect
on the Japanese policy and the future history of the Far East which a
revolution could not have accomplished.
SUPPRESSING THE FACTS.
Japan
attempted, and I think unwisely, to suppress the facts as to this
demonstration and permitted the publication in the Japanese vernacular
papers of expurgated, exaggerated, and colored accounts calculated to
prejudice the world as to the motives and the acts of the Koreans.
For
instance, every effort was made to suppress and prevent outside
knowledge of the original proclamation published all over Korea at the
opening of the demonstration -- a temperate, dignified, eloquent statement
which declined to deal in recrimination, which blamed the Koreans
themselves, partly, for their troubles, but which insisted that they
were entitled to national existence, of which they had been forcibly
and unfairly deprived. It suggested that Japan, in restoring Korean
independence, would do more toward regaining confidence of the world
and insuring permanent peace in the Far East than could be done in any
other way.
Every effort was made to prevent copies of this
document getting out of Korea. Houses and individuals were searched;
even while I was in Seoul two Americans connected with the Y. M. C. A.
were arrested and searched in the belief they had copies of the
document.
HOW THE PROCLAMATION CAME OUT.
So far
as I know, the first accurate translation of that document was brought
out by myself and offered to the Japan Advertiser at Tokyo for
publication and to the Associated Press. The Government forbade its
publication. And, so far as I can learn, the first copy to reach the
United States is that which I brought to San Francisco and which was
given out by the Associated Press there.
In Honolulu I was
informed that the newspapers there could not receive reliable accounts
of the Korean trouble through letters from their Tokyo correspondents
sent by special messengers because no steamer passenger from the Orient
was permitted to land on the Honolulu dock carrying letters for
delivery or mailing unless such letters were turned over to postal
officials, by whom they would be submitted to censorship.
It
is within my own knowledge that fellow passengers on the Shinyo Maru
who had with them correspondence concerning the Korean troubles for
delivery to Honolulu newspapers were asked to surrender them to the
customs and post-office officials at the gate, and when they refused,
were ordered to take them back to the ship and threatened with $1,000
fine if they attempted to deliver the letters. In my own case I was not
permitted to carry off the Honolulu dock for mailing a letter plainly
addressed to the American minister at Peking, but, at order of the
customs official, turned it over, with a nickel for postage, to the
uniformed postal employee at his side.
HOW THE FACTS WERE LEARNED.
With
Mrs. McClatchy I was in Seoul, the capital of Korea, for two days and a
half during the demonstration and secured a fair knowledge of the
matter through intercourse with a number of Americans and Europeans
long resident in Korea, thoroughly familiar with the situation and
enjoying the confidence of Koreans, and, in several cases, eyewitnesses
of leading incidents.
During these two days and a half we
were permitted to go about freely in our rickshaws through the crowded
streets taking snap pictures; but we attempted no conversation with
Koreans, lest we get them into trouble. We were early warned that we
were being followed by two detectives in plain clothes who made
inquiries wherever we stopped as to our business and conversation, and
particularly as to whether we talked to Koreans.
We traveled
by rail through the length of Korea from Antung to Seoul and from Seoul
to the southern end of the peninsula at Fusan, a journey of two
daylights, and met on the train a number of Americans, long resident in
the country, some of them Californians, and even Sacramentans,
interested or employed in the American quartz-mining and gold-dredging
operations below Seoul. The first half of this journey was made on
March 3, the second on March 6.
From sources in Japan after
our arrival there I learned more. And this, then, is the story of the
Korean independence demonstration as I understand it.
GATHERING FOR THE EMPEROR'S FUNERAL.
On
Monday, March 3 [1919], the funeral of the former Korean Emperor Yi was to
take place. Yi was not entitled to particular consideration at the
hands of his people, and up to the time of his death did not enjoy
their affection. But his death transformed him into a national hero,
for it was reported, and generally believed by the Koreans, that he had
committed suicide in order to force a postponement for three years,
under Korean custom, of the marriage of young Prince Yi, a boy, to a
Japanese princess. The prince, nominally a guest of the Japanese
nation, is really a prisoner in his palace, permitted no intercourse
with the Koreans, and never leaving the palace grounds unless in charge
of Japanese guards. The marriage was dictated by Japan as one means of
sinking Korean nationalism and aiding in assimilation of her people,
and was correspondingly resented by the Koreans.
And so the
worthless old emperor suddenly became a hero to his former subject,
20,000,000 people, a captive nation under Japan's iron rule. They
desire to give him burial according to the ancient Korean rites, but
this was refused them by the military government which rules Korea, and
arrangements for a great Japanese military funeral with Shinto
ceremonies went on apace.
From all parts of the Korean
Peninsula the Koreans flocked to Seoul, the capital, for 10 days
preceding the funeral, coming at the rate of 5,000 a day. Even on
Monday, March 3, as we traveled by train down the peninsula we saw
almost a steady procession of white-robed and curiously hatted Koreans
walking on the highway toward the nearest railway station that they
might take train for the capital. There had never been before in the
history of the country such a crowd in Seoul.
A WELL-TIMED DEMONSTRATION.
Suddenly,
on the Saturday preceding the funeral, March 1, at 2 o'clock p. m.,
without warning or hint to the foreign population and without suspicion
evidently on the part of the Japanese rulers, there was inaugurated in
every large city of Korea on behalf of its 20,000,000 subject people, a
peaceful demonstration and demand for national independence. This
demonstration continued in various forms throughout the Korean
Peninsula up to the date of our departure from Yokohama on March 17.
Since that time the veil which conceals or distorts happenings in the
Far East has dropped for us, as it has for all westerners.
In
Seoul the demonstration consisted of a reading of the proclamation in a
public park; of the rushing of many thousands of the white-robed
Koreans down the wide main street shouting "Mansei," the Korean
equivalent of the Japanese "Banzai"; of exhortation to students of the
various schools to join in the demonstration and to maintain a peaceful
agitation until they secured national freedom; of an attempt to enter
the palace gates and present a petition to the young Prince Yi, etc.
The
police and gendarmes could not stop the crowd at first, but soldiers
were called out, and clubbed muskets and swords were used effectively,
over 150 prisoners being taken to jail that afternoon, some of them
rather severely injured.
Somewhat similar demonstrations
were made on Monday and on Wednesday, but they did not last long, the
Japanese being prepared and several hundred demonstrators being made
prisoners, among them some girl students. The demonstrations in other
cities took on similar character.
WONDERFUL NATIONAL PASSIVE RESISTANCE.
There
was more or less severity attached to the arrest of the Koreans.
Eyewitnesses have told me of girl students being set upon by Japanese
coolies with clubs and stamped upon, and being marched off by the
gendarmes and tied together in couples by their thumbs. Up to the time
we left Seoul, March 6, firearms had not been used by the Japanese in
that city as far as I could learn, and while there were numerous
injuries from clubs, clubbed muskets, and swords, no Koreans had been
killed.
The astonishing thing about the demonstration was
that under the terms of the proclamation and exhortation of the leaders
no injury was done to property, and no violence attempted by the
Koreans, even in retaliation for what seemed unnecessary brutality on
the part of the gendarmes and soldiers in making arrests. This is the
more astonishing when the temperamental character of the Koreans is had
in mind, and their inclination to frenzy in mob formation, which in the
early days of the Hermit Kingdom caused the death of several
missionaries, who were torn to pieces by Korean hands and teeth.
The
vernacular press of Japan during the first week of the demonstration
was filled with accounts from special correspondents, declaring that in
Seoul and elsewhere throughout the peninsula the Koreans had attacked,
injured, and even killed gendarmes, police, and soldiers, and injured
property.
Up to the morning of March 6, when we left Seoul,
I am confident no such thing occurred in that city; and I have reason
to believe it did not occur elsewhere. The most conclusive evidence on
this point is the interview published in the Japan Advertiser by the
Japanese minister of communications, Noda, who, with other high
officials of the Government, went to Seoul to attend the funeral of
former Emperor Yi. Noda did not leave Seoul until March 5, and his
interview, published on his return to Tokyo, declared that the Koreans
had not committed acts of violence or injured property, either in Seoul
or anywhere else in Korea.
FURTHER ORGANIZED EFFORTS.
On
the morning on which we left Seoul, five days after the demonstrations
commenced, there appeared on posts and walls a second proclamation from
the Korean leaders, though unsigned, in which the people were
congratulated on the manner in which they testified to Japan and to the
world their desire to be free, and on the self-control and forbearance
with which they had endured injury and arrest. They were reminded that
as Koreans they must stand up for the sacred cause to the last man, and
they were cautioned again to do no violence and no injury to property.
"He who does this," the proclamation said, "is an enemy to his country,
and will most seriously injure the cause." A free translation of the
document was given me while waiting for the train, by a missionary who
had seen a copy of it.
It is not unlikely that in country
districts the Koreans later may have been incited to retaliation by the
methods of their rulers. The vernacular press of Japan for a few days
gave increased circumstantial accounts of death or injury to single
members of local gendarmerie, coupled usually with the significant
statement in each case, that "casualties" among the Koreans amounted to
40, or 60, as the case might be. According to these accounts the
Japanese in the outside districts were, in instances, using firearms.
The Koreans could secure no weapons unless clubs or stones. But these
accounts had practically ceased when we sailed for California.
Meanwhile
the Koreans had carried on the policy of passive resistance by closing
up all the schools -- the Korean children having ceased to attend, and by
ceasing work in various public utility and manufacturing enterprises.
"PRELIMINARY EXAMINATIONS."
The
Government had made arrests of about 4,000 agitators, and the trials of
these Koreans, it was officially declared, would be commenced toward
the end of March, after the "examinations" had been completed.
Preliminary examinations preceding trial at the time of the Korean
conspiracy cases some years ago meant inquiry by torture, under which
the helpless victim confessed to anything with which he was charged. In
those conspiracy cases 106 prisoners thus confessed full guilt and were
sentenced on trial by punishment accordingly. The world having received
an inkling of the facts, and the American and British minister, it is
whispered, having suggested to the Japanese Government the propriety of
further investigation, a second trial was ordered, and 98 of the 106
were adjudged innocent and discharged. Among them was one who was in
prison at the time the offense with which he was charged was committed.
I met in Korea Americans who had seen the scars inflicted by torture on
some of these Koreans.
Some apprehend that the prominent
leaders of the independence demonstration will be similarly induced
during the "examinations" to make confession as to their pernicious
activities and what was behind them. But it is doubtful if Japan, with
her past experience, and with the eyes of the world upon her now, will
resort to torture. There is a growing sentiment in Japan against the
despotic rule of the military in Japanese colonies, and that sentiment
is quite sensitive to the world's opinion.
THE CHUNDOKYO.
The
original proclamation was signed by 33 prominent Koreans, religious
leaders and teachers, carefully selected so as to represent the
Chundokyo, the Buddhists, and the three Christian religions most
prominent in Korea -- the Methodist Episcopal, the Presbyterian, and the
Catholic. It was intended thus to demonstrate to the world that the
movement for independence was not factional. These leaders were, of
course, at once arrested.
The first signature to the
proclamation was that of the head of the Chundokyo; and here again the
Japanese rulers received a distinct shock, for on the Chundokyo and on
its head they had confidently relied for effective assistance in so
subjugating the Koreans that there would be no trace left of their
nationality in the coming generations.
The Chundokyo is a
cult whose teachings are said to be a combination of Buddhism and
Taoism and ancestral worship and Korean superstition. The cult was
encouraged by the Japanese on the theory, it is said, that it would
stop the spread of Christianity, whose teachings, with the flavor of
democracy which accompanied them, were believed to be bad for the
political digestion of the Koreans. Once the cult had supplanted
Christianity it could be made to serve the purpose of the Japanese by
eliminating from its teachings those features which reminded the
Koreans of their wonderful history as a nation, and it would thus
assist in their racial absorption by the Japanese.
However
this may be, it is certain that the Chundokyo and its leader were
playing the Japanese game, apparently, for years by inducing the
Koreans to submit quietly to Japanese rule; that the Japanese
encouraged its growth -- it is said to have now about 3,000,000 members;
and that, notwithstanding the Japanese espionage system and the spies
who were doubtless located in various branches of the cult, Korean
intrigue was a match for Japanese intrigue, and a nation kept the
secret until the time was ripe.
A KOREAN MANIFESTO IN JAPAN.
In
Japan a number of Korean students shortly before issued a proclamation
for Korean independence, which was in effect a declaration of war.
These students were arrested, tried, and convicted, and are already
serving terms in prison. That situation was easy to handle. The Korean
national movement under leadership of the Chundokyo will prove a more
difficult problem for Japan.
A MOVEMENT IN WORLD DEMOCRACY.
As
to the inception of this Korean movement there is of course much of
which I know nothing. I have reason to believe, however, that it was
inspired in a way by the war and its assumed influence in making the
world safe for democracy; by a mistaken belief on the part of the
Koreans that the principle of self-determination of peoples, as
enunciated by President Wilson, and as made the basis for certain
decisions of the Paris peace conference, could be applied at this time
to Korea; and that it was only necessary for Korea to declare her wish
to be free, and Japan would be compelled to give her independence. I
know personally some of the Koreans had that idea, and it would explain
in part their carefully planned demonstration, indicating unanimity of
sentiment, and their determined abstention from violence or
retaliation, in order that the world might not be prejudiced.
The
forcing of the young Prince Yi into a Japanese marriage, the belief
that the old Emperor killed himself to frustrate that plan, the refusal
to allow him burial by Korean rites -- all these doubtless helped to fan
the sentiment of the impressionable people into flame and make it easy
to set the stage for the demonstration.
Then Japan has
steadily made enemies of the Koreans, when she might have made friends.
After another year, for instance, they will not be permitted to learn
their own language in the schools -- they must use Japanese exclusively.
At present they are taught both languages. In countless other ways,
following the German system of treating a conquered people, the
Japanese have outraged the pride and sentiment of the Koreans when the
action would not seem necessary for the maintenance of Japanese
sovereignty.
Koreans are gradually being deprived of all
offices, even the patriarchal heads of villages being supplanted by
Japanese with an increase of salary. It is made impracticable for
Koreans to attend the high school. A Korean rickshaw man in Seoul is
not permitted to earn his living in that occupation unless he discards
his national costume and adopts the Japanese. And I myself saw Japanese
railroad officials and civilians treat inoffensive Korean passengers
like dogs.
WHAT JAPAN HAS DONE FOR KOREA.
The
Koreans impress most observers who have studied them as a kindly people
who could be readily assimilated by the Japanese, if, after the first
forcible acts of repression, military methods and control had given way
to civil government; if Korean superstition had been wiped out by
education, but their language and their pride of race respected, and
ambition created in them by conferring public positions on some of
those who qualified for it.
It is claimed, with truth, that
Japan has done many excellent things for development of Korea and
improvement of sanitary and other conditions; and some insist that the
Korean people as individuals are in a better way to progress under
Japanese rule, rough and unkind and unfair as it is, than would have
been possible as an independent nation under the misrule of their
emperors and the grafting official class.
The Korean woman,
who was a slave, subject to the pleasure of her master, her husband, to
work as he ordered, and to be discarded when he wished, has now certain
rights, and may secure a divorce on proper showing. Under the old
system, the Korean man or woman, because of official graft and social
conditions, had every incentive to develop into a bully or a coward,
and withal a liar and a thief. The Japanese rule, notwithstanding the
iron hand of the conqueror, is helping to improve some of these
conditions. And this, notwithstanding that the Koreans, who claim they
were originally free from venereal disease, and who had no prostitutes,
have been introduced to the one by the Chinese, while the Japanese have
forced on them the Yoshiwara system, under which a woman may be sold or
pledged to a brothel keeper for five years, though she may claim
cancellation of the contract by appeal to court.
The
Japanese have built a good railroad running the entire length of Korea;
are pushing forward the construction of excellent highways; have done
remarkably good work in forestation of the barren hills; have made
property and life safe; have inaugurated compulsory education -- and even
a common-grade course for everyone is better than ignorance for the
multitude. But they have wiped out any semblance of liberty; and
liberty, with all peoples, is now the first consideration.
The
Korean pays for all these improvements, and for the profit of his
conqueror, in very high taxes; but he knows what those taxes are, and
though they may amount to as much as 40 per cent, they still do not
handicap him as did the confiscation which faced the old Korean who was
found by an envious official to be acquiring a surplus.
HOW JAPAN FACES THE PROBLEM.
One
of the interesting phases of the situation is the manner in which Japan
faces the problem. Quite evidently she is nonplussed by the passive
resistance of 20,000,000 people who offer no possible excuse, according
to the world's standards, for acts of brutal repression, and who simply
ask in a dignified and temperate declaration or petition for the
exercise of that self-determination which their good friend, "Mister
Weel-son," has assured them is the right of every people.
The
stories of the vernacular press of Japan that acts of violence were
committed from the start by the agitators were frankly and publicly
denied by two of Japan's high administrative officials. The efforts to
make ill will by declaring that American missionaries had instigated
the movement have been defeated by the result of an official Japanese
investigation, which acquits those accused even of knowledge of the
matter.
Apparently the Japanese administration can not save
its face by making outside agencies responsible. A few Japanese
journalists and publicists who hold that the government of Japanese
colonies by military authorities is a mistake certain to make trouble
for Japan, have not failed to take advantage of this situation.
In
the Japanese Parliament the administration has been asked some very
pointed questions looking to the merit of military repression in
securing results in Korea and elsewhere and indicating a desire, if not
an intention, on the part of some to call for an investigation and to
demand that civil commissions instead of military governors shall
hereafter control Korea and other outside tributary territory.
From
statements made to me by Japanese of standing, I gather that the Korean
movement has made such an impression on thinking Japanese that
something will be done, probably. Not immediately, of course -- the
administration must save its face; and it would not do to yield to a
demand of this land from a subject people and thus acknowledge a
blunder; but later, and gradually, when the action need not occasion
international comments. Of course, independence will not be granted. If
anything is done, it will be in the way of reforms in governing the
Koreans and in an attempt to make them feel less a subject people.
If I read aright between the lines of certain published statements, an
effort will be made to have the Koreans modify their declaration or
petition and ask rather for reform in government and some voice in
public affairs in place of the independence upon which they have set
their hearts.
This Korean declaration, with the comment it
causes, is only one of many evidences of a change that is taking place
in Japan, which may before long treat its military rulers to a
disagreeable surprise.
ARTICLE VIII. THE PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT.
THE
STORY OF INTRIGUE BEHIND THE MOVEMENT -- THE DANGER OF INDEPENDENCE
WITHOUT PROTECTION -- HOW VOTES ARE MADE FOR INDEPENDENCE AND WHO IS
LIKELY TO PROFIT THEREBY.
Occasional reference is made in
the telegrams from Washington to the presence there of Manuel Quezon,
president of the Philippine Senate, and of a commission from the
islands asking Congress to grant independence to the Philippines. There
have been recommendations favoring this petition from Burton Harrison,
Governor General of the islands (who has done more to discredit the
American Nation in the Far East than any other official who has been
there) and kindly messages from President Wilson and some of his
Cabinet.
There is a very interesting story concerning this
matter which any visitor to Manila will hear, much of which I know to
be true and none of which I have any reason to doubt.
THE POLITICAL LEADERS.
The
great political leaders in the islands at present are Quezon and Sergio
Osmena, who is speaker of the lower house of the Philippine Congress.
Quezon is said to have more magnetism, Osmena to have the better
balance. Aguinaldo commands the admiration of the natives and could
easily become a political leader if he would. Up to this time he has
busied himself with farming and commercial pursuits and has abstained
from making a cry for independence the excuse for securing political
position.
Quezon and Osmena were elected on the independence
issue, on their impassioned insistence that the islands should be
independent and the assurance if they and their followers were elected
the end would be attained.
WHAT NATIVES ARE TOLD.
I
met in Manila an American who attended some of the political meetings
in the various islands, and who, unknown to the leaders, understood the
three principal dialects. He told me that he heard some of these
leaders assure the ignorant natives that if they secured independence
they would be free of all taxes and obnoxious laws and restraint
imposed by the Americans, and would be in a position to do what they
pleased and to become rich while doing it. They were told that steady
agitation for independence would bring it; and quite naturally they
cast their franchises for the men who promised them all these things.
GIVEN AUTONOMY.
As
time progressed the United States gave a steadily increasing measure of
autonomy to the islands, but there was no indication of immediate grant
of independence. As a matter of fact, the intelligent leaders among the
Filipinos became convinced that independence would bring destruction
instead of prosperity to the islands.
They satisfied
themselves that the United States could not afford to make them
independent and at the same time guarantee that independence, thus
becoming sponsor for the international policy and acts of a people who
are not yet fitted to steer their state bark unaided: and if they were
left entirely without the protection of the great powers they would
fall prey almost at once to Japan, which could easily find a pretext
for hostile action.
MENTAL RESERVATIONS.
So while
the leaders still talked independence they did it with decided mental
reservations. In 1916 the Jones bill for government of the Philippines
was before Congress, and the Senate unexpectedly passed the Clarke
amendment providing for absolute independence in four years from that
date.
The Philippine leaders were stricken with
consternation, and cablegrams and messages from the islands asked that
the bill do not pass.
"Yes, of course, we are all talking
independence -- as a matter of fact, you see, we can not talk anything
else; political exigency -- but for God's sake don't give it to us."
Their prayer was heeded and they did not get what they were publicly clamoring for.
WANTED SUBJECT IGNORED.
It
is also reported and quite generally believed in Manila's political
circles that Quezon, before the Paris peace conference commenced its
labors, requested President Wilson to instruct the delegates from the
United States not to bring up the subject of Philippine independence.
Certainly so far as the public knows the subject was not brought up.
Meanwhile
the opposition party, meaning, of course, the "outs," was making it
extremely uncomfortable for the Government, meaning the Quezon-Osmena
contingent, which is in.
The opposition claimed that the
Government leaders had been elected on the independence issue, had
pledged themselves to secure it, and yet had accomplished nothing in
that line, and apparently had no intention of doing so.
NATIVES BETRAYED.
As
a result the native voters were being betrayed: they were not to enjoy
all the beautiful things promised with independence. Was it to be
tolerated ? Of a certainty, no. Then rise, my friends, valiant members
of a puissant race. Throw out these men and elect us -- the opposition -- in
their place. We will be faithful to the trust.
There is
nothing the matter with that argument, for it provides just the sort of
molasses necessary to catch this particular kind of fly at this
particular season. And, mark you, the elections are approaching. There
was produced what Messrs. Quezon and Osmena would perhaps acknowledge
in private to be an embarrassing situation.
There was but
one way to solve it apparently. The opposition was put in the same boat
by the appointment of a nonpartisan commission whose members were named
from both parties: and this committee was intrusted with the duty of
approaching Congress at Washington with a demand for independence.
MUST SHARE BLAME.
Now,
if that demand fails, the opposition must share the blame with the
Government, and the Quezon-Osmena party will be safe. If it
succeeds -- and Manila insists that the knowing ones are praying it will
not -- then they can only hope for long postponement of the day when Japan
will find the foreign policy of the independent Philippine republic
objectionable and take steps accordingly. What is to be will be, and at
least they did what they could to avert the fatal day. Kismet. Also
manana.
And, then again, should the republic of the
Philippines be established as an entirely independent government, it
would be necessary to have a President. Now, I ask who could discharge
the duties of the position with greater dignity and credit than Quezon,
or, let us say, Osmena? And to secure enjoyment of that honor for a few
years by either one of those patriots is it not worth while to risk
having the young republic Koreanized by the voracious Japanese? For
look you, my friends, nations, like men, must take chances sometimes.
If
this story be all true, the lack of backbone and political honesty
which could not frankly say, "We want independence with protection; we
can not afford to accept it at this time without," will be equally in
evidence in governing an independent but helpless nation. And then the
consequences will be more serious.
It is the general opinion
of those familiar with conditions in the Far East and with the
development of the Philippines in self-government that it would be no
kindness on the part of the United States to remove its protecting hand
for some time yet.
PART 2.THE
UNITED STATES DESTINED TO BECOME A JAPANESE PROVINCE UNLESS JAPANESE
IMMIGRATION IS FORBIDDEN ABSOLUTELY -- THE "GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT" AND
GULICK'S PERCENTAGE PLAN ONLY TRAPS.
(In five articles.)
EXPLANATORY.
Commencing
on June 12, 1919, the House Committee on Immigration, Hon. Albert
Johnson of Washington, chairman, held at Washington. D. C, an extended
hearing in connection with the proposed bill offered by the "League for
Constructive Immigration Legislation." Dr. Sidney Gulick, the founder
and secretary of the league and originator of the plan, explained it in
detail.
Subsequently there were read into the record of the
hearing, in refutation of Dr. Gulick's theories and assertions, certain
articles from the Sacramento Bee, written by the publisher thereof, V.
S. McClatchy, and published June 9, 11, and 13. Subsequently, on
September 25, Mr. McClatchy appeared before this committee, and later,
on October 10, before the Senate Immigration Committee. The facts and
figures thus presented by him have stood since without disproval; and
they covered not only the features of the bill and probable results of
its passage, but also the existing conditions in connection with
Asiatic immigration.
In response to many requests, the articles (slightly revised) are published in this form for general distribution.
It
developed during the June hearing, in the testimony of Dr. Charles
McFarland, secretary of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ of
America, that the organization named was not then furnishing funds for
Dr. Gulick's work and that he was being financed, partly at least, by
Andrew Carnegie, through the Commission on Peace and Arbitration.
THE FUTURE OF THE REPUBLIC AT STAKE.
(Editorial from Sacramento Bee, June 17, 1919.)
The
experience of the past four years has convinced most Americans that our
immigration and naturalization laws are entirely too liberal, and that
if we are to preserve the high standards of American citizenship we
must be more careful in the selection of material from which that
citizenship is molded. The sentiment is general that immigration, if it
be not stopped for some years, should be restricted and carefully
selected.
With the prevalence of that sentiment, it has been
an easy matter during the past year to organize what is called the
League for Constructive Immigration Legislation and to secure for it
indorsement and subscriptions from a long list -- 1,000, it is said -- of
representative and loyal Americans from all walks of life and
entertaining many shades of political opinion. In that list are found
governors, public officials and politicians, university presidents,
bank presidents, prominent editors, lawyers and physicians, national
labor leaders, and heads of chambers of commerce.
It now
develops that the main object of the promoters of the enterprise is not
the same as the intent of this long list of indorsers; that the
"constructive immigration legislation" suggested is intended by those
promoters simply as a means for opening our gates to Asiatic immigrants
and making them eligible for naturalization; and that this purpose was
not generally apparent to the 1,000 national committeemen of the league
when their indorsement and their subscriptions for a movement
ostensibly to restrict foreign immigration in the interests of American
citizenship were solicited.
The whole story, with an
overwhelming array of facts and figures, largely from the promoters
themselves, was told in three articles written by the publisher of the
Bee.
Under the "gentlemen's agreement," whose spirit called
for a restriction of Japanese immigration similar to that enforced
against the Chinese by law, Japan is sending us 10,000 to 12,000 of her
subjects a year openly, and more across the border clandestinely. Our
Japanese population, instead of decreasing, has multiplied sixfold
since 1900. The Chinese population has decreased to between one-half
and one-third of the original number. And the Japanese birth rate per
thousand in California communities where they have concentrated is five
times the white birth rate and increasing.
Nearly half the
population of Hawaii and more than half the annual births are Japanese;
and that Territory will be governed in a few years, under present
conditions, as a Japanese Province, though under the American flag.
What has happened there is an indication of what has already commenced
in California.
It has been conclusively proved that the two
civilizations will not exist together; that under economic competition,
and because of difference in standards of living and in racial
characteristics, the Anglo-Saxon is displaced by the Japanese.
The
"constructive immigration" plan and the proposed legislation will
increase the evil and hasten the end. They are shown to be the work of
Sidney Gulick, who has spent his time in this country, since his
arrival from Japan five years ago, in the effort to secure adoption of
his "new oriental policy," which would open our gates to Asiatics as
immigrants and citizens.
The chief value of plan and bill at
this time is to offer proof of the Bee's charge that Japanese
propaganda is carried on as systematically in this country now as was
German propaganda before the war, and that the most efficient
propagandists are loyal but misled American citizens.
The
facts presented in the Bee's articles seem to demand at once such
protective measures as can be applied to diminish the consequences of
our blunder and Japan's bad faith.
The "gentlemen's
agreement" should be at once canceled, and all Japanese immigration,
including picture brides, forbidden by law, as is done in Canada and
Australia -- such a law as Japan herself imposes against China and Korea;
Japanese should be prevented, if possible, leaving Hawaii for the
mainland, and laws forbidding ownership of land by aliens not eligible
to citizenship should be made effective.
It is pertinent at
this time to ask why this country should adopt, at the request of Japan
or any other nation, a principle under which races are to be admitted
in the future, not on the basis of their value to us as citizens but in
proportion to the number of their fellows who are already here; why we
should admit as immigrants, much less as citizens, the various peoples
of Asia in the face of present knowledge and the experience of Hawaii
and California; why, if it be desirable to restrict immigration, we do
not fix the number we are willing to admit and select, on merit and
because of their value to us in upbuilding a homogeneous people, the
most likely individuals from those offering?
Shall we
hereafter conduct this Nation so as best to preserve its institutions
and insure its perpetuity? Or shall we, as in the past, open our doors
on request or demand, to the elements that will make for disunion in a
national crisis and invite a yellow flood that will eventually
dispossess the white race?
These are questions which must be
decided now; and on a wise decision may depend the future salvation of
the world's great Republic.
ARTICLE I. SIDNEY GULICK'S MISSION TO AMERICA.
HIS
"NEW ORIENTAL POLICY" -- SECURING INDORSEMENT OF A GREAT CHURCH
FEDERATION -- ORGANIZATION OF THE LEAGUE FOR "CONSTRUCTIVE
IMMIGRATION" -- WHY THE JAPANESE IS UNDESIRABLE AS IMMIGRANT AND CITIZEN.
(From the Sacramento Bee, June 9, 1919.)
Japanese
propaganda is being carried on in this country as determinedly and as
successfully as was German propaganda before we entered the war. The
end sought is the same -- the conquest of the United States. The means are
different. Conquest by arms was shown within the past two years to be
impracticable. Conquest by "peaceful penetration" is now the plan.
There
is now openly operating in the United States an organization whose
work, if successful, will make the country in a comparatively few
generations a province of Japan.
The promoter and manager of
the organization is a professor of the Imperial University of Kyoto,
Japan, who has been in this country on furlough for five years and
engaged during that time in this work. The president of the
organization is one of the organizers of the Japan Society of America.
So
cleverly has the plan of organization been carried out under the guise
of protection to American citizenship and restriction of immigration
generally that 1,000 representative American citizens in various States
of the Union have given it innocently their indorsement and financial
support.
The organization has prepared a bill for
presentation to Congress which will let down the bars and pave the way
for future contributory legislation to hasten the end.
The
first work of the promoter five years ago was to secure the indorsement
and financial assistance of a combination of Protestant churches
representing over 100,000 ministers and over 17,000,000 members, which
organization pledged itself to the scheme and efficiently aided it -- also
undoubtedly in ignorance of its full significance.
Hawaii is
already hopelessly Japanese, that race now comprising one-half the
total population of the Territory, and having more than four times the
number of Caucasian or any other race.
In
a few years the
Hawaiian-born Japanese will rule the Territory by their votes, and rule
it not as Americans, but as Japanese, while under the proposed
legislation the Japanese vote would be given immediate preponderance.
What has already happened in Hawaii is now rapidly progressing in
California, and it is only a question of time under existing
conditions -- and even without the aid of the proposed legislation --
when
all the fertile spots of the State will be peopled by Japanese to the
exclusion of whites.
Our civilization can not exist beside
theirs in the face of economic competition and a birth rate per 1,000
five times or more as great as ours.
What is happening in
California will be brought about in all spots of the United States
sufficiently fertile and advantageously located to attract the
settlement of the Japanese, provided conditions permit their steady and
rapid increase within our borders, as contemplated by the promoters of
the plan.
If the plan now urged upon Congress be adopted
this year, the Japanese population of the United States will be
100,000,000 in 140 years from now, on the basis of a ratio of natural
increase about half of that now shown by the Japanese in California.
Under
the gentlemen's agreement, as now operated by Japan, the process would
be slower, but equally effective. In either event this country would
become a Province of Japan.
This article is opened with the
several remarkable statements above. By the great mass of Americans who
do not know the writer, these statements will be classed as the
vaporings of an inspired lunatic. They will appear particularly
ridiculous to citizens east of the Mississippi River, who have no point
of contact with the peoples of the Far East.
There are many
thousands, however, confined almost entirely to the Pacific slope, who
know the general situation, but most of these will be astounded at the
details.
The statements are not only true in all particulars, but conclusive proof will be furnished in this and the succeeding articles.
JAPANESE PROPAGANDA IN AMERICA.
In
previously published articles I have called attention to some of the
methods of propaganda pursued by Japan for lulling this country into
fancied security and keeping her eyes closed, so that Japan's objects
could be the more readily and the more quickly accomplished.
There
are the various Japan-American societies, organized ostensibly to
promote friendly relations, but used generally to secure the active but
innocent assistance of prominent Americans in propaganda work; the
commercial and trade organizations used in the same way; the
entertainment in Japan of prominent Americans, who come back with a
dazzling picture of one side of the shield, and who apparently do not
know that the shield has a reverse side; men like Gary of the Steel
Corporation, Jacob Schiff, the banker, and others who in public
speeches and interviews make assertions and give assurances which any
one familiar with far eastern conditions knows are entirely wrong;
banquets and speeches where most publicity can be secured; special
annual Japanese numbers of American newspapers; public lectures and
interviews with hired propagandists, both Japanese and American;
Japanese news bureaus and magazines. Generally, these means are
resorted to along the Atlantic seaboard and east of the Mississippi,
where there is no oriental question, where the public, being ignorant,
will not question statements made, and where the greatest number of
Americans can be reached with least effort and least expense.
It is thus that Japan has created a public sentiment in this country which must be corrected if the Nation is to be saved.
As
will be seen from these articles, the propaganda has now taken on the
form of enlisting the churches in a demand based on the brotherhood of
man and an assumed willingness to risk national interests in order to
promote evangelization, and enlisting the intelligent classes of the
community in so-called "constructive, immigration" legislation saddled
with conditions which will give Japan what she wants.
THE INSTRUMENT OF "PEACEFUL PENETRATION."
The
organization referred to, whose promoters aim to secure in this, the
most favored land in the world, homes for the surplus population of
Japan, is known as the League for Constructive Immigration Legislation,
with offices at No. 105 East Twenty-second Street, New York City.
The
president is Hamilton Holt, of New York City, editor of the
Independent, one of the organizers of the Japan Society of America, and
the recipient from the Mikado of the Japanese Order of the Sacred
Treasure.
In its published list of 1,000 sponsors and
subscribers will be found the names of men of State and National
reputation from every section of the country -- ministers, lawyers,
doctors, college presidents, newspaper editors, captains of industry,
national labor leaders, heads of chambers of commerce, merchants,
governors, and capitalists. The great majority of these sponsors are
men who would not knowingly associate themselves for a moment with a
movement whose result would be such as here charged as the intent of
the promoters of the league.
The organization is a
remarkable tribute to the cleverness of the Japanese in the work of
propaganda in this country. And in this case, as in the case of German
propaganda before we entered the war, most of the effective work is
being done by earnest and well-intentioned American citizens cleverly
deceived and skillfully led.
The plan proposes to restrict
all annual immigration from each race to a fixed percentage of the
number of people of that race who are American citizens, whether
naturalized or born here. The promoter explains that, so far as Chinese
and Japanese are concerned, the number admitted under such a plan will
be negligible and easily assimilated; and that a policy of the sort
will salve the wounded pride of Japan by giving her nationals the same
treatment as is accorded Europeans, and thus obviate chance of
international complications.
Any measure for restricting
immigration appeals to the average thinking American since the war,
and under such an explanation it is not remarkable that prominent men
throughout the country, who know nothing of the experience of Hawaii
and California with the Japanese and who had no time for investigation,
gave indorsement and support to the movement.
DR. GULICK AND HIS NEW POLICY.
The
moving spirit in this enterprise, the promoter and manager, who bears
the modest title of "secretary," is Dr. Sidney L. Gulick, who describes
himself on the title-pages of some of his writings as "Professor in
Doshisha University and lecturer in the Imperial University of Kyoto,
Japan."
Dr. Gulick was born of missionary parents in the Far
East and reared there with adopted oriental children. He was educated
in America and returned to Japan as a missionary about 30 years ago and
has made his home there since. He is an able man, speaks Japanese, and
has written books on the Japanese.
In 1913 he left Japan on
a furlough and has been in America since, at work in promoting his "new
oriental policy." This policy, briefly stated, contemplates "granting
to Asiatics in this land the same privileges which we grant to citizens
of the most favored nations," and "placing in the Federal Government,
instead of in the State, responsibility in all legal and legislative
matters involving aliens." This policy would necessitate changes in
the immigration and naturalization laws, and probably in the
Constitution as well.
THE CHURCHES TAKE A HAND.
Dr.
Gulick's first work on coming to this country was to secure indorsement
of his “new oriental policy” by the Federal Council of the Churches of
Christ of America, and he was employed, under salary, by the council to
promote the plan.
The Federal Council of the Churches of
Christ comprises constituent churches of 30 Protestant denominations,
with 103,023 ministers and a membership of 17,438,826. The list of
denominations includes Baptist, Evangelical, Lutheran, Mennonite,
Methodist (all branches), African (all branches), Presbyterian,
Episcopal, Reformed, United Brethren, and others. (Flowers.)
The
Federal Council has a "committee on relations with Japan," and in 1914
one-fifth of all the council's revenues were used by this committee.
The council had then no committee on relations with any other Asiatic
nation. (Flowers.)
The council has indorsed the "new
oriental policy" of Dr. Gulick, probably in the belief that an
adjustment of international and race relationship along lines
satisfactory to Japan would render more easy the promotion of the
Christian Gospel among the Japanese.
It is unlikely that the
ministers of the 100,000 American churches who have been committed thus
to this movement have much knowledge of the facts which appear in these
articles; it is certain that they do not realize the gravity of the
situation. The 17,000,000 church members, with few exceptions, probably
have little knowledge of the matter, but the action of the council
gives them a definite interest therein.
CONSTRUCTIVE IMMIGRATION LEGISLATION.
The
measure proposed by the League for Constructive Immigration Legislation
and indorsed at a called meeting in Washington of persons interested in
immigration problems -- presumably members of the league -- is apparently the
same as suggested tentatively by Dr. Gulick. It proposes to so amend
the immigration and naturalization laws as to conform to his "new
oriental policy," and incidentally it imposes certain restrictions on
general immigration.
The measure limits the maximum number
of immigrants in a single year from any nation, race, or group having a
single mother tongue to 3 to 10 per cent of those from the same land
who are already naturalized American citizens, and of the native born,
according to the United States census.
There are other
features, however, which are important, to be considered in connection
with this declared principle, because they affect materially its
practical operation.
First. Originally the 10 per cent limit
did not include aliens coming to join a husband, wife, father, mother,
son, daughter, grandfather, grandmother, grandson, or granddaughter.
Later this exception was limited to father or grandfather, wife,
mother, grandmother, or unmarried or widowed daughter coming to join
relatives already here.
Second. All laws and understandings
as to exclusion of Chinese and Japanese are to be canceled, and all
such nationals now here, or such as may come hereafter, are to become
eligible for citizenship.
Third. Any alien who seeks
admission to the United States because of religious persecution in his
own country, either in overt act or through law or regulation, is to be
admitted and become at once eligible for citizenship.
Fourth.
Any number of aliens may be admitted if they come as "students," and no
provision is made for their return to their own country.
Further study may disclose other features having equally vital bearing on the operation of the proposed measure.
JAPANESE UNDESIRABLE IMMIGRANTS.
Criticism
of this proposed legislation in these articles is confined generally to
consideration of its effect upon our Japanese problem, and is based on
the postulate that the Japanese is for us an undesirable immigrant and
an undesirable citizen.
He is an undesirable immigrant for economic
rather than for racial reasons, and the strongest of these reasons are
creditable rather than discreditable to him.
His standards
of living are lower than ours; he will work longer hours for less
money: he is thrifty, industrious, and ambitious; he is a competent
farmer, truck gardener, and orchardist; he can and does underbid
American labor whenever necessary in any community, until he has driven
it out; then his wages rise to American standards; ultimately he
declines to work for wages, insisting on leasing where he can not buy
the farm or orchard. The white owner finds it more profitable to lease
on shares to the Japanese, who will work, under the cooperative plan,
12, 15, or 18 hours a day than to operate the place himself with white
or Japanese labor, at high wages, for 8 or 9 hours' work. The whites
will not mix with the Japanese and gradually leave the community.
It
is not in one industry, but in many, that the Japanese displace us. It
has been repeatedly proven that our civilization does not survive in
open competition with theirs -- it can not, unless we accept their
standards of living.
AN UNDESIRABLE CITIZEN.
The
Japanese is an undesirable citizen because he does not assimilate. He
does not intermarry, nor is it desirable that he should. He does not
become an American, save in very rare instances, always remaining a
Japanese. Even when born in this country, and educated in our common
schools, he is still compelled to attend Japanese school before and
after the public school hours. He is taught by Japanese teachers, who
usually speak no English, and who have neither knowledge of nor
sympathy with the principles of American government and citizenship. He
absorbs Japanese ideals and patriotism, and that contempt for all other
nations which is the spirit of every Japanese school textbook.
OUR SCHOOL TEACHING NULLIFIED.
The
testimony of Dr. Gulick on this point, as given on pages 19 and 20 of
his pamphlet, "Hawaii's American-Japanese problem," will perhaps be
considered conclusive. He says:
"It is not to be assumed
that the education they (Japanese children) receive in the public
schools, which they leave at 14 or 15 years of age, is adequate to
prepare them for citizenship during the six or seven years after they
get out from under the influence of their American teachers. Most of
these boys will be isolated from English-speaking Americans; they will
be associated chiefly with men of their own race, imbibing, therefore,
the oriental ideas as they approach manhood. The mere fact,
accordingly, of American birth, public school education, and the
requisite age should not be regarded as adequate qualification for the
suffrage; for it is to be remembered that during the entire period of
schooling not only have they been in oriental homes but the Japanese at
heart have been diligently drilled in Japanese schools by Japanese
teachers, many of whom have little acquaintance, and no sympathy with
American institutions or a Christian civilization."
Again, Dr. Gulick
says on page 14:
"If, as Asiatics, they maintain their
traditional conceptions of God, nature, and man; of male and female; of
husband and wife; of parent and child; of ruler and ruled; of the State
and the individual; the permanent maintenance in Hawaii of American
democracy, American homes, and American liberty is impossible."
JAPAN RETAINS CONTROL OF HER PEOPLE.
The
theory of the Japanese Government has always been that once a Japanese
always a Japanese, and that the children of Japanese, wherever born and
under whatever circumstances, are Japanese, subject to the power of the
Japanese Government. Even where an individual Japanese claims the right
to expatriate himself, he is subject to the requirement that though he
might be naturalized by another nation, if he had not already served
his term in the Japanese army he must respond, no matter where he might
be. In the same way, all children born of Japanese anywhere are
considered subjects of Japan; and she exercises in California and in
Hawaii the same rigid discipline over them as to schooling and other
matters as would be exercised in Japan itself.
Dr. Gulick
says, in the pamphlet already quoted, at page 38:
"The Japanese alone,
of all immigrants, educate their children most earnestly in their
national language and customs."
The Japanese Parliament,
some two years ago, passed what was called the nationality option bill,
under which foreign-born Japanese children might declare at the age of
fifteen whether they wish to remain Japanese or become citizens of the
land in which they were born; but Japan reserves the right to grant or
withhold permission. So that even in this bill Japan specifically calls
attention to the fundamental principle that a child born of Japanese
parents anywhere is a Japanese subject, with the duties and obligations
thereof, and may not renounce those obligations save with permission.
It should be noted, too, that this bill, like all bills passed by the
Japanese Parliament, does not become operative unless and until
promulgated by the Emperor; and so far as my knowledge goes, it has not
yet been promulgated.
ARTICLE II. PRESENT CONDITIONS AS TO ASIATIC IMMIGRATION.
HAWAII
HALF JAPANESE -- JAPANESE VOTES WILL SOON RULE WHERE JAPANESE INFLUENCE
NOW DOMINATES -- JAPANESE IN UNITED STATES MULTIPLYING -- "PICTURE
BRIDES" -- WHITE INDUSTRIES AND WHITE COMMUNITIES DISPLACED -- CALIFORNIA'S
EXPERIENCE.
(From the Sacramento Bee, June 11 1919.)
Explanation
has been made of the endorsed plan of the Federal Council of the
Churches of America and of the League for Constructive Immigration
Legislation, as proposed and promoted by Sidney L. Gulick, "professor
in Doshisha University and lecturer in the Imperial University of
Kyoto, Japan," and as now presented by him on behalf of the
organizations named, to the American public and to the Congress of the
United States; the organization of the two associations has been gone
into and some hint given as to the probable interest which their chief
promoters have in the subject of "constructive immigration"
legislation, so formulated as to carry out the "new oriental policy" of
Dr. Gulick; the probability of making good American citizens out of
Japanese, even if born here and educated in our public schools, has
been considered; and, on the authority of Dr. Gulick, himself, that
probability appears to be so remote that, unless the Japanese change
their present characteristics and customs, "the permanent maintenance
in Hawaii of American democracy, American homes, and American liberty
is impossible."
THE WHITE RACE OR THE YELLOW.
The
admission of Japanese to this country under such conditions as would
permit their increase means the ultimate surrender of the country to
them, as Hawaii has already been surrendered, and as California will be
unless protective measures are at once adopted. It would then be only a
question of time before the desirable sections of the United States,
one after another, are peopled and controlled by the Japanese, and the
land of the free and the home of the brave becomes a province of Japan.
Dr.
Gulick insists that his plan will effectually limit the influx of
Japanese and other nationals to a number which can be readily
assimilated. I do not attempt to discuss the application of the measure
to European nationals whom we may invite to come.
But so far
as concerns Asiatics generally, and particularly Japanese, it is
certain that this Nation can not with safety assume that any number,
however, small as compared to our population, can be admitted with hope
of assimilation or without grave danger to some or many American
communities.
It must be remembered that the Japanese are the
most prolific nation with which we have to deal in immigration; that
their births exceed their deaths annually by 700,000 or more, and that
they are driven by necessity to find place for that excess population.
No European nation faces any such condition. The Japanese naturally are
looking for the most desirable location for their people. But do we
wish to surrender this country to them? Or shall we insist that this
country shall be preserved for the white race? The issue is squarely
before us, and we can not afford to evade or compromise with it.
AN ECONOMIC, NOT A RACIAL QUESTION.
In
this connection it must be remembered that the opposition to Japanese
immigration on the part of those who have studied it is not based on
racial prejudice, but on unanswerable economic grounds. Because of
different standards of living, different tastes and different
discipline, the Japanese easily drive the whites out of any community
in which the two civilizations meet in economic competition. It is for
this reason that the Japanese is an undesirable immigrant, for it is
assumed that the American Nation desires to retain this country for the
white race.
The economic factor referred to is recognized by
the Japanese in their own environment. They forbid under Imperial
Ordinance No. 352 the immigration into Japan of Chinese and Korean
labor. The reason which they assign for this policy is precisely that
offered by the Pacific coast, and by Canada and by Australia for
excluding the Japanese. They say that the standards of living of
Chinese and Koreans are very much lower than the Japanese, and they can
not, therefore, in fairness to their own people, permit this cheap
labor to come into Japan in competition. And because of the greater
differences in various ways the American Nation needs more protection
against Japanese immigration than Japan needs against Chinese or
Koreans.
In December, 1918, 200 Chinese coolies were
imported into the Prefecture of Hiroshima, Japan, to work in a charcoal
factory under contract for two years at 1 yen {50 cents) per day. Under
instructions from the Government in Tokio the Japanese provincial
governor refused to sanction their stay. Early in January 1919, the
coolies were shipped home from Shimonoseki, and the entire expense of
the enterprise ($25,000) had to be paid by the Chugoku Iron Works of
Hiroshima, which imported the coolies.
The Herald of Asia of Tokyo, in commenting on the facts, said in its issue of December 28, 1918:
"This
is the first importation of Chinese labor into Japan. We hope that it
will be the last experiment ever to be made. If it is brought into this
country in any large force the welfare of our laborers will be
seriously affected."
Japan's demand before the Paris
conference for "racial equality" was simply for the purpose of
establishing a principle under which she might force her excess
population into the United States, Canada, Australia, and elsewhere on
the same terms as might be accorded other nationals. That demand was
made in charming disregard of her own stand against the Chinese and
Koreans; but Japan has learned that it is not necessary for her to be
consistent in her dealings with America. She has thus far been conceded
what she demanded, regardless of its absurdity or impropriety.
CONDITIONS UNDER EXISTING LAW.
Before
consideration is given to the changes which will be made by the
operation of the proposed legislation it is worth while to examine
conditions as maintained under existing laws and regulations, and
consider the inevitable results therefrom if the present policy is
continued. Afterwards it will be shown how this condition will be made
worse and the end hastened by the so-called "constructive immigration"
legislation.
Hawaii and California afford at present the
most illuminating example of what Japan seeks for her people under the
Stars and Stripes, and what will be left for the white American if she
succeeds. Remember, too, that the conditions to which attention will be
called have been and are being brought about under a so-called
"gentlemen's agreement," the theory of which, as carefully explained to
the Pacific coast at the time, was that Japan was to restrict under her
own regulations Japanese immigration to this country as effectually as
Chinese immigration was restricted by our prohibitive laws.
THE LESSON OF HAWAII.
We
commence with Hawaii, and in this matter we shall make Dr. Gulick our
principal witness. In March, 1915, he made certain investigations in
the Hawaiian Islands, the results of which were embodied in the
pamphlet hereinbefore quoted, "Hawaii's American-Japanese Problem,"
published in Honolulu by the Star-Bulletin. Unless otherwise stated,
quotations credited to Dr. Gulick are from that publication.
There
(p. 8) Dr. Gulick states that for the preceding seven years (1908-1915)
under the "gentlemen's agreement" no fresh labor immigrants had come
from Japan. In 1910, he says, out of a total population in the islands
of 191,909 the Japanese numbered 79,674, of which 24,891 were females.
In 1914 the total population was 213,000, of whom 89,715 were Japanese,
24,550 Hawaiian, 24,450 Caucasian, 23,299 Portuguese, 21,631 Chinese,
14,992 Filipinos, and 14,518 all other races. In that year the Japanese
school enrollment in the Territorial schools was 30 per cent of the
total.
In 1918 (according to a statement of the
superintendent of schools of Hawaii-San Francisco Examiner, May 18,
1919) the Japanese population had increased to 103,000, "nearly
one-half the total population," while Japanese school children
comprised 40 per cent of the entire enrollment, and of the increase in
school children in 1917 and 1918 more than one-half was Japanese.
The
1918 report of Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane places the
Japanese population of Hawaii in 1917 at 106,000, while the United
States Bureau of Commerce estimates the total population at 219,000.
The
American Yearbook for 1917 says, as of June 30 of that year: "The
estimated population (Hawaii) was 250,627. The Japanese contributed
more than half the increase."
Japanese newspapers in Honolulu today have a large circulation, and one prints an English section.
In
1915 in Honolulu out of a total of 107 prostitutes, 82 were Japanese
(Gulick). In 1914 the official register of Hawaii shows that out of
3,149 marriages, 1,806 were Japanese. In 1915 a large majority of the
Japanese men -- perhaps two-thirds -- were married, women having been
permitted to come from Japan to marry them (Gulick). The proportion has
doubtless been increased since.
So in eight years the
Japanese population of Hawaii has increased 24,000, or about 30 per
cent, and now the total annual increase in population in this Territory
is more than half Japanese; while in four years past the Japanese
school children have increased 30 per cent, and they already comprise
more than 50 per cent of the yearly increase of school enrollment.
In
the absence of immigration from Japan, as claimed by Dr. Gulick, the
increase in Japanese population of Hawaii can be accounted for only by
the great birth rate, stimulated by the importation of "picture
brides." In 1907, when the "gentlemen's agreement" went into effect,
the Japanese in California were nearly all males; in Hawaii, while I
have not the figures, there were probably nearly four males to one
female. The "picture brides" have been coming from Japan in a steady
stream since. The census of school children shows the result.
THE "PICTURE BRIDES."
The
"picture bride" plan was doubtless originated to get around the intent
of the "gentlemen's agreement;" to increase as rapidly as possible the
number of Japanese under our flag, and particularly to defeat the
operation of the alien land laws passed by several States, including
California. Apparently the plan could have had no value in Japan
itself, where the average density of population is 389 per square mile,
the highest in the world for a similar stretch of territory, and where,
if all the available women were staked out at equal distances
throughout the Empire they would be only 300 feet apart in any
direction.
This is the plan: A Japanese male who has secured
admission to the United States sends his photograph back to Japan, and
his friends, or the officials, secure for him a complaisant bride who
weds the picture. For purposes of emigration to the United States,
Japan recognizes the procedure as a marriage, and our Government, on
request, has so recognized it. The bride, with the photograph she has
wedded, sails for the American port, and there on the dock, with the
aid of the photograph, she selects her husband from the prospective
bridegrooms waiting, and is admitted as an immigrant under agreement
had subsequent to adoption of the "gentlemen's agreement."
That
woman promptly fulfills her duty by bearing children, as many as one a
year, and each child is carefully registered as an American citizen,
entitled to all privileges as such, including the claimed right of
possessing land through a guardian.
Incidentally the woman
swells the labor market, for she works continually in the shop or
store, or field, with her child near her. She does the work of a man
wherever she may be placed.
The accusation has been made
that the "picture bride" does not always confine her usefulness to one
husband, or even to one State, but is available where her services will
have most value, and that is in the States which have passed anti-alien
land laws.
The official figures by fiscal years obtained at
Washington show that the total number of picture brides sent from Japan
to the United States and Hawaii in less than five years past (July 1,
1914, to April 30, 1919) is 20,323, of whom 6,864 landed in Hawaii.
JAPAN CONTROLS HAWAII.
Dr.
Gulick says (p. 15): "Within a score of years the majority of voters in
the Territory of Hawaii will be of Japanese and Chinese ancestry." As a
matter of fact, the Chinese cut very little figure, and the Japanese
already outnumber the Caucasian, or any other race in the islands, in
the proportion of at least 4 to 1.
In the English section of
the Honolulu Japanese newspaper, the Daily Nippu Jiji, May 26, 1919,
appears the statement that "10 or 15 years hence there will be a great
hope for a dominating influence of the Japanese." That "hope" receives
ample justification in these figures offered by the Nippu Jiji. The
number of Japanese electors in Hawaii in 1910 was only 13; in 1912, 48;
in 1914, 112; in 1916, 179. In 1919 there were 207 Japanese electors on
the island of Oahu alone (Honolulu is on this island), and many on the
other islands. The Japanese children in the schools as they come of age
will furnish in 1923, 897 male electors and 558 and 682 additional in
the two years following. The total number of Japanese male electors in
1933 will be 7,934. If the vote be extended to women the number will be
about doubled.
This situation induces the Japanese newspaper
to proudly announce that in 1933 the Japanese vote in Hawaii will
decide whether Republicans or Democrats shall win.
In
Hawaii, therefore, it is only a question of a few years when, under
existing laws and regulations, the Japanese born under the American
flag will outvote any other race, and in a generation they will
probably outvote all other races combined.
The Gulick plan,
which makes every resident Japanese eligible for citizenship, would
give the Japanese at once almost as large a voting strength as all
other races combined.
A LOST TERRITORY.
The
situation as outlined induces the belief on the part of many that
Hawaii is already practically lost to Americans and to the United
States, and that there is not any feasible plan by which she can be
reclaimed.
Indeed the Nippu Jiji in the issue above quoted
declares that the Japanese now -- to-day -- "are in the position to exert
dominant influence in the political and social affairs of Hawaii."
That
this is no idle boast on the part of the leading Japanese daily of
Honolulu is sufficiently attested by the following news item:
"Honolulu, May 31, 1919.
"The
foreign-language school bill, requiring teachers desiring certificates
to show a knowledge of the English language, American history, and
American civics, has been tabled by the upper house of the Territorial
legislature. The bill was strongly opposed by Japanese educators and
editors on the ground that it would force Japanese schools to close."
Consider
in connection with this item the facts which have been stated before,
as to the control of her people exercised by Japan in this country, the
manner in which children are forced to attend Japanese schools and
imbibe Japanese principles and ideals. If a Territory of the United
States may not refuse a teacher's certificate to one who can not speak
English, and who knows nothing of American government and American
ideals; if a Territorial legislature is subject to Japan's views as to
American principles before the resident Japanese have secured the
necessary voting strength, what will be the result after they exercise
the franchise in sufficient number?
CONTROL OF INDUSTRY.
The
dominance of the Japanese in Hawaii has naturally given them exclusive
control of various industries, such as shoemaking, which in years gone
by employed only white labor. The Japanese is very adaptable and he
reaches out, as soon as possible, for position and control in the most
favorable localities, and in such occupations as offer least toil,
shortest hours, and most compensation. While he came to Hawaii as a
sugar-plantation laborer, he gets away from that toil when he can. The
young generation particularly seek town occupations, and most of them
wish to go to the mainland because of the greater opportunities there.
CALIFORNIA, THE NATION'S OUTPOST.
What
has happened already in Hawaii is simply an indication of what is now
happening in California. The Japanese does not waste his time on poor
prospects when he can command good ones. California is to him the
favored spot of the world, and in California he is carefully picking
out the richest lands and choicest surroundings, and systematically
driving the white race from them. His predilection for California is
sufficiently attested by the fact that two-thirds, perhaps more, of all
the Japanese in continental United States are living in California.
California therefore offers the best and really the only opportunity
for studying the problem and correctly estimating the results likely to
follow the continued and increased immigration of Japanese into this
country.
California is the outpost of American civilization,
fighting against the "peaceful penetration" of the Japanese, and thus
far she has had only abuse therefore from the States east of the
Rockies, which she is defending. The present policy of the United
States Government in permitting admissions under the "gentlemen's
agreement," in opening the gates to "picture brides" and in
discouraging -- and preventing, when it can -- the passage of
State laws limiting the effects of the evil, has created a critical
situation which makes remedial measures the more difficult.
OUR JAPANESE POPULATION.
It
is very difficult to ascertain the number of Japanese now in the United
States. There are no official Government figures since the census of
1910. The only figures available are those furnished by the six
Japanese consulates in continental United States for their respective
districts. According to these reports, the total Japanese population in
continental United States in 1916 was 94,370, of which only 2,381 were
in the Chicago district and 2,781 in the New York district. All the
balance are credited to the four Pacific coast districts, and of these
San Francisco and Los Angeles districts have 74,556, Seattle district
9,232, and Portland district 5,403. San Francisco and Los Angeles
districts cover six States, but the greater portion of the population
credited to those two districts is in California, to wit -- 55,095.
In
1916, 1917, and 1918, the Japanese population must have been largely
increased. Dr. Gulick says that Japanese immigration in 1918 alone
amounted to 10,213 and that for 1919 it will probably be 12,000. In
California alone in the three years named there were 12,000 Japanese
births. It is not unreasonable to say that, on the basis of these
estimates, the Japanese population of continental United States is not
far short of 150,000.
Again, the United States census of
1910 gives the number of Japanese in the United States as 72,157, of
which 41,356 were in California. The Japanese births in California
alone from 1910 to 1918 have been over 23,000. The official reports of
the United States as quoted by the New York Evening Post in its
Japanese number, March 16, 1918, show that the number of Japanese
entering the United States, 1910 to 1917, exceeded the number departing
by 54,317. Allowing for births elsewhere than in California, and for
immigration in 1918 as estimated by Dr. Gulick, and for deaths, the
present Japanese population would be well over 150,000.
CALIFORNIA THE TEST GROUND.
It
is safe to say that not less than two-thirds of the total, or 100,000,
live in California. In California, too, the Japanese have concentrated
to a great extent in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, where rich
lands and agricultural advantages attract them. For instance, it is
noted that of 4,108 Japanese births in the State in 1917, over 3,000
are credited to 7 of the 58 counties. This concentration is one of the
phases of their "peaceful penetration," and it enables us the better to
judge of results when their number will have become sufficiently large
to take possession of all the favored locations in the State instead of
the few they now hold. It furnishes sufficient answer, too, to the
argument that 150,000 Japanese distributed among 100,000,000 Americans
can work no harm. The 150,000 are not distributed so as to make the
weak solution referred to. They throw their entire force into a few
communities where they can make their numbers, with their economic
advantages, tell, and they choose those communities, those industries,
and those conditions which will yield them most return for least effort.
THE INCREASE OF JAPANESE.
As
to the increase in Japanese population in this country which may be
looked for under present conditions, and without any contributory
legislation of the "constructive" character suggested by Dr. Gulick,
these facts are significant:
The United States Census showed
that in 1900 there were in the United States 24,326 Japanese, of which
985 were females -- a proportion of about 25 to 1. In 1910 the Japanese
population had trebled, the figures showing 72,157, of which 9,087 were
females -- a proportion of 7 to 1. The estimates already made above
indicate that since 1910 the Japanese population has more than doubled,
and it is known the proportion of females to males has very largely
increased.
INCREASE OF JAPANESE IN CALIFORNIA.
In
1910, three years after the "gentlemen's agreement" went into effect,
there were in this State about 6 Japanese males to 1 female. With the
introduction of the "picture bride" plan, the proportion of females has
very rapidly increased. It is now perhaps 1 to 4 or less. The result is
sufficiently attested by the fact that Japanese births in California in
1917 numbered twenty times as many as in 1907, though the Japanese
official reports claim that the total Japanese population of the State
had increased in that time only about 40 per cent.
The
biennial report of the California State Board of Health, July, 1916, to
July, 1918, shows the following as the registered number of Japanese
births for the respective years, from 1906 to 1918, inclusive: 134,
331, 455, 682, 719, 995, 1,467, 2,215, 3,874, 3,342, 3,721, 4,108, and
4,365. Total for 13 years, 25,298.
Due to the increase in
Japanese births above indicated, the percentage of white births to the
total in the State has steadily decreased from 98.4 in 1906 to 90.6 in
1917.
In Sacramento city Japanese authorities claim to-day a
Japanese population of 2,580. The United States Census for 1910 showed
1,437 Japanese in the city. The total white population of the city now
is about 75,000. The report of the State board of health for the year
1918 shows within the city 177 Japanese births and 1,073 white births.
That
is to say, the Japanese birth rate per 1,000 in Sacramento City is
already five times as great as the white birth rate. As the influx of
"picture brides" raises the proportion of females in the Japanese
colony, the birth rate will steadily increase without a doubt. The
average Japanese births per month in Sacramento City have doubled since
1914; that is, from 10 to 20.
The report of the State board
of health above quoted shows that in the rural portion of Sacramento
County, outside of Sacramento City, in 1918 there were 236 Japanese
births and only 221 white births, although the white population is many
times as great as the Japanese. There are no population statistics
available for this year, but in 1910 the census shows 2,437 Japanese
and 19,335 whites in the county outside the city.
According
to the Los Angeles Times of June 30, 1919, the Japanese births in the
county of Los Angeles, outside the incorporated cities, for the month
of May, 1919, were one-third as numerous as the white births. Los
Angeles County is the most populous county in the State, with a large
suburban and country population. The Japanese population of the
districts referred to is a small fraction only of the white population
in those districts.
The increase in Japanese population in
the Pacific Coast States will receive additional impetus under, the
Gulick plan from the fact that all Japanese in Hawaii, whether born
there or born in Japan, will be free to come to the mainland, and that
most of them will wish to do so because of the attractions it offers to
them. See Dr. Gulick's statement in his Hawaiian pamphlet before
referred to.
THE CHINESE PROBLEM.
The Chinese and
the Japanese have been mentioned in the same category by the proponents
of the "constructive immigration" legislation in such a way as to give
the impression that the conditions affecting both and the Nation's
problem as to both are the same. That is an entirely erroneous
impression. The Chinese, under the operation of the exclusion act, have
steadily decreased in number. The Japanese, under the "gentlemen's
agreement," which was supposed to secure the same result without
hurting Japan's pride, have steadily and rapidly increased.
In
Hawaii in 1900 the Chinese numbered 15,301; in 1910 there were 21,674,
but there has apparently been no increase since then, Dr. Gulick's
figures for 1914 being 21,631.
In the United States there
were in 1900 89,863 Chinese; in 1910 the number was 71,531. There are
no available figures since then.
In California the Chinese
numbered in 1890, 72,472; in 1900, 45,753; in 1910, 36,248 -- a
decrease of 50 per cent in 20 years, and there has been a steady
decrease since.
Sacramento County shows the same decrease -- 1890, 4,371; 1900, 3,254; 1910, 2,143. These are all United States Census figures.
The
Chinese births at present are only about one-tenth the number of the
Japanese births. In the entire State the total births for 1917 were:
Japanese 4,107, Chinese 419.
The Chinese, in addition to
having no increase from immigration, are steadily decreasing from
departures to China and from a death rate which is now about twice the
birth rate. The State totals for 1917 were: Deaths 818, births 419; and
for the 12 years, 1906-1917, deaths 8,547, births 3,683.
In
contrast therewith not only do the Japanese receive large accessions
from immigration,
but their birth rate is now between four and five
times as great as their death rate, while in 1906 their death rate was
several times their birth rate. The steady increase of birth
percentages has been due, of course, to the importation of "picture
brides." In 1917 the births were 4,108, deaths 910; in 1906, births
134, deaths 384; and for the 12 years, 1906-1917, births 20,933,
deaths 6,775.
The Chinese therefore do not present a
national problem because of probable increase under existing conditions
and laws, while the Japanese do present a very serious problem.
WIPING OUT AMERICAN COMMUNITIES.
Now
for another phase of the problem: The destruction of home and family
life and the wiping out of American communities under stress of
Japanese competition and methods.
The town of Florin in
Sacramento County, 8 miles southeast of Sacramento city, in the heart
of the strawberry district, has a Japanese population of 1,050,
supplemented in picking season by about 500 more. The Japanese proudly
point to it as a monument to their methods and enterprise. It is all
that they claim for it. It is more. It is a gravestone to the hopes of
the former American population of Florin, almost entirely wiped out by
contact with far eastern civilization. It is a warning finger post to
California and to the American Nation as to the inevitable end in all
favored spots in this country if the "peaceful penetration" of the
Japanese is not arrested.
The Japanese did not create Florin
or the strawberry business. The Japanese do not create. They imitate,
improve, appropriate. In the memory of young people of to-day, Florin
was an exclusively American settlement of 5, 10, 20 acre farms, devoted
largely to strawberry and grape culture, on each farm a happy home, the
Sacramento daily newspaper delivered at each doorstep. The town was the
center of the district and from it were shipped berries and grapes in
carload lots as far east as the Missouri River.
The Japanese
saw and coveted. They secured a few farms in the center of the district
and gradually added more, and they improved the culture. The economic
and social pressure gradually drove the white families away, and in
time even the town and its business passed into the hands of the
Japanese. To-day there is no American newspaper distributed in that
district, and it is in effect a part of Japan transplanted into the
heart of California. The school for the entire district has a total
attendance of 147, and 101 are Japanese. In one class there are 41
Japanese and 6 white children.
Walnut Grove, on the
Sacramento River in Sacramento County, is now a Japanese settlement.
Most of the rich river ranches in the delta of the Sacramento River are
now managed by Japanese under lease, where they could not secure
ownership under law, and the white resident and his family have melted
away.
THE ECONOMIC PRESSURE.
On the American
River, about 12 miles east of Sacramento City, is the little station of
Mayhew, the shipping point for the productive orchards and vineyards
for miles around. In years past white labor was employed in these
orchards, and many families resided in the district, the women and
children assisting in the work of picking and packing the crop, while
the little red schoolhouse did its work in constructive American
citizenship.
To-day, while the orchards are still owned by
whites, they are leased to Japanese, the help is all Japanese, and most
of the white families have disappeared. There is only one owner who
still manages his own property, and with white help; but to do it he
must send out during the busy season for transient labor, working short
hours at high wages. And he is in competition with the surrounding
Japanese-managed orchards, operated under the cooperative system, with
ambitious, interested labor, working sometimes 15 and 18 hours a day.
And he must send his young children by stage to Sacramento City every
day for schooling. For the district school is attended by Japanese,
interested in learning English for business purposes, and no American
mother will permit her little girl to remain in school with grown
Japanese youths. When it is said that this orchardist could make more
money from his holding by leasing to Japanese than by operating
himself, with white labor, or even with Japanese labor, the great
economic pressure will be better comprehended.
There are
similar instances in the adjoining county of Placer, where, it is said,
80 per cent of the orchards are leased to Japanese, and some schools
show as many as five Japanese children to one white. Through the San
Joaquin Valley will be found similar settlements of Japanese; and
similar results as to displacement of whites.
Japanese
authorities claim -- and it is probably true -- that the Japanese produce in
California 90 per cent of the strawberry and cantaloupe crop; 80 per
cent of onions, asparagus, tomatoes, celery, lettuce, and cut flowers;
55 per cent of cabbage and seeds; 40 per cent of potatoes; 20 per cent
of beans, and 10 per cent of the grapes, fruit, and rice.
This
estimate was made early in 1918, probably based on 1917 statistics. In
the items of rice and fruit it is certain that the percentage is now
much greater than quoted.
In June, 1919, the consumers and
dealers in San Francisco were forced to protect themselves by
boycotting strawberries, because the Japanese growers in combination
were forcing dealers to pay as high as $17 per chest, while the
canneries were given a price of $9.10.
CALIFORNIA'S EFFORTS AT PROTECTION.
California
passed in 1913, notwithstanding the earnest protests of the Federal
administration, an alien land law bill similar to that already passed
in certain other States. In those other States the same measure had met
no opposition from the administration, the reason being that the
Japanese are more solicitous as to securing privileges in California,
where for the present they are centralizing their efforts, and had made
no protests as to such legislation in the other States.
The
California act forbids the selling or leasing for more than three years
of land to any person not eligible for American citizenship. Some good
resulted, but recently the Japanese have evaded the provisions of the
act by placing title to land in the names of Japanese babies born in
California, and by organizing corporations with dummy directors and
purchasing land in the name of the corporations. The secretary of state
reports 72 such corporations formed between January 1, 1918, and March
1, 1919. One such corporation took over a 171-acre Fresno County
orchard in May, 1919, at a price of $171,000. In Tulare County it is
declared that the Japanese bought last year over 5,000 acres of bearing
orchards.
The session of the California Legislature in March,
1919, attempted to remedy the matter through a bill amending the act by
forbidding leasing entirely, and by preventing the use of
incorporations for the purpose named. The bill was killed at the
request of the Federal administration lest there be complications with
Japan.
At the same session a bill was introduced limiting
the age of admission to the lower grades of the public schools, the
association of little girls with grown Japanese youths having been
found objectionable. The bill was killed at the request of the Federal
administration lest there be complications with Japan.
At
the same session a measure was introduced looking to stopping the
further admission of "picture brides" into the State. The measure was
killed at the instance of the Federal administration lest there be
complications with Japan.
At the same session a bill was
introduced to segregate the Japanese and other Asiatics into separate
schools. Killed at the request of the administration lest there be
complications with Japan.
In Collier's for June 7, 1913,
will be found an article by Peter Clark MacFarlane, describing
conditions of Japanese settlement in California as he found them. He
was sent out by Collier's to investigate the matter because of the
general opinion in Eastern States that California was unduly prejudiced.
AT THE BORDER AND IN WASHINGTON.
The
rich Imperial Valley lies astride our national border, partly in
California and principally in Mexico. It is already peopled largely by
Japanese, who find it an easy matter to evade custom officials and
enter the United States here. The Japanese are displacing whites in the
valley, not only in agricultural pursuits but also in business, by
cleverly concerted economic pressure.
In this valley is
located a large tract of land, nearly 1,000,000 acres, owned by
Americans of Los Angeles and elsewhere, which a Japanese syndicate some
time since endeavored to purchase. Public attention was called to the
matter through the press at the time, and the plan frustrated.
In
Seattle, in the State of Washington, the Japanese have commenced to
displace the whites in general lines of business to an extent thus far
not seen in any other large city. This condition is undoubtedly due to
the encouragement offered by the people of Seattle in the belief that
the city's trade with Japan would be thereby materially increased. It
is now a question with the Seattle people, as expressed in published
interviews, whether they are not already paying dearly for their
whistle and whether the price to be paid in the future will not be
alarming.
It is important to study these and similar phases
of the problem, for they demonstrate with certainty what will happen in
every desirable agricultural section of California as soon as there are
here enough Japanese to accomplish the result.
The figures
already given prove conclusively that, even without more favorable
immigration legislation, the Japanese only needs time to take
possession of what he finds desirable in California.
And what he will do in California he will do later in other States that offer attractive advantages.
ARTICLE III. POINTS AND EFFECTS OF CONSTRUCTIVE IMMIGRATION BILL.
ADMITS
60 GERMANS TO 1 FRENCHMAN OR HOLLANDER -- WILL GIVE THE UNITED STATES
2,000,000 JAPANESE POPULATION IN 40 YEARS AND OVER 100,000,000 IN 140
YEARS -- SAFEGUARDS WHICH SHOULD BE ADOPTED.
(From the Sacramento Bee, June 13, 1919.)
In
the two articles preceding an outline has been presented of our present
Asiatic immigration problem, more particularly with regard to the
Japanese. Following is a brief of the points thus far made:
THE CHINESE.
So
far as the Chinese are concerned, there is at present no problem. The
statistics show that under the operations of the exclusion act and
because of the scarcity of women and great excess of deaths over
births, the Chinese population is very rapidly decreasing. In 20 years
it decreased 50 per cent. In Hawaii there are now about one-fifth as
many Chinese as Japanese; in continental United States perhaps about
one-third.
Again, the Chinese is more valuable and less
undesirable as immigrant and born citizen than the Japanese. That is
the general opinion on the Pacific coast, where there is the best
opportunity for judging. The Chinaman is reliable and honest -- no other
countryman, not excepting the American, has so high a standard of
commercial honesty. He is less aggressive than the Japanese, less
inclined to take offense, and with a higher sense of humor. He is more
inclined to remain in fixed occupation and less dangerous to American
labor and to American institutions. The American-born Chinaman makes a
better citizen because China has not the hold on him that Japan has on
the Japanese.
The Japanese as a people -- as their statesmen
and high-class merchants regretfully admit -- are at present neither
honest nor reliable.
THE JAPANESE PROBLEM.
The
Japanese problem, on the other hand, is a very serious one. While the
introduction to these articles assumed as a postulate that the Japanese
is an undesirable immigrant and an undesirable citizen, that assumption
was later reasonably well established by the record of his
accomplishments in Hawaii and California, and by the published
testimony of his present champion, Dr. Sidney Gulick.
The
declared purpose and promised effect of the "Gentlemen's agreement"
when it was adopted in 1907, in deference to Japan's representations,
was that it would accomplish through Japan's action a restriction on
Japanese immigration similar to that secured by our exclusion act on
Chinese immigration.
The agreement has been grossly violated
in letter and in spirit. At present 10,000 to 12,000 Japanese are being
sent through our continental ports each year openly, and unnumbered
others are secretly crossing the Mexican border. United States Senator
Phelan charges that this border immigration is promoted with the
knowledge, if not assistance, of Japanese authorities, including
Consular officials, and anyone conversant with the manner in which the
Japanese Government retains authority and control over Japanese in this
country, even over those horn here, knows that this secret immigration
could not continue without knowledge thereof in consular offices.
In
order to increase the resident-Japanese population as rapidly as
possible over 20,000 "picture brides" have been admitted in five years
past, and they have performed their allotted task of bearing Japanese
children as rapidly as possible -- frequently, if not usually, at the rate
of one per year. In California the Japanese birth rate per thousand is
already five times as great as the white birth rate, and increasing.
Under
the understanding, the Japanese population of continental United States
should have decreased since 1900, as has the Chinese. Instead it has
multiplied sixfold. There are already 150,000 Japanese in this country,
about two-thirds of them in California, and three-quarters of that
allotment have settled in 7 of the State's 58 counties, where they are
concentrated generally in a few communities.
The manner in
which the Japanese displace white labor in industries and entire
communities has been explained and concrete examples furnished. It is
evident therefrom that Japanese to the number of a small fraction of
the whites in any State can take absolute economic control of the most
favored sections of that State if they once secure entrance.
Hawaii's
situation under existing conditions is hopeless. The Japanese already
comprise almost half the entire population and four times as many as
the Caucasian or any other race. More than half the yearly increase in
births and school enrollment is now Japanese. In a few years the
native-born Japanese vote will hold the balance of power, and in a
generation can defy a combination of all other races in the Territory.
The proposed "constructive immigration" legislation would bring about
that result immediately by making Japanese eligible to citizenship; and
the power thus obtained will be used by them as Japanese, not as
Americans. Nothing could be more conclusive on this point than the
testimony of Dr. Sidney Gulick himself.
Dr. Gulick explains
how the Japanese, even when born under the American flag and taught in
our public schools, is drilled in loyalty to Japan and her ideals by
compulsory attendance in Japanese schools and by association with his
own race. He says that if the Japanese in Hawaii maintain their
traditional conception of themselves, their neighbors, and their duties
"the permanent maintenance in Hawaii of American democracy, American
homes, and American liberty is impossible."
The leading
Japanese newspaper of Honolulu has been quoted in its boast -- well
founded -- that the Japanese soon will control the Territory of Hawaii by
their votes. It adds that they are even now in position to exert
dominant influence in the political and social affairs of the
Territory; and that statement was fully confirmed when the Territorial
Legislature in May, 1919, on the demand of the Japanese, killed a bill
which provided that the Territory should not issue teachers'
certificates to those who did not have some knowledge of the English
language and of American history and civics.
What has
happened in Hawaii is happening in localities in California and will be
extended if protective measures are not adopted over this coast, and
ultimately throughout the Nation.
CONDITIONS, NOW BAD, WOULD BECOME WORSE.
To
one who has studied the situation, it is evident that our immigration
and naturalization laws should be amended at once so as to minimize as
far as possible the evils existing and the greater ones which threaten
in the future from the maintenance in our midst of an alien,
unassimilable and rapidly increasing Asiatic population. It would be
suicidal to inaugurate a policy which will inevitably increase that
evil and lead in time to the conquest of the white race by economic
elimination.
It is the purpose of this article to show how
the passage of the proposed "constructive immigration" legislation,
formulated by Dr. Sidney Gulick and indorsed by the league he has
organized, or the adoption of the policy therein outlined, would
increase the evil rather than alleviate it.
An outline of
the bill which Congress is to be asked to pass was presented in the
first of these articles. It proposes to make effective Dr. Gulick's
"new oriental policy " of opening our gates to all orientals on the
same basis as accorded to the most favored nations. Incidentally it
limits immigration in any year from any race to a fixed percentage -- 3 to
10 -- of the members of that race citizens of the United States, either
by birth, as per the census of 1920, or by naturalization in any year,
and has several minor provisions. The outline of the bill as used in
these articles was secured from the printed matter issued by the New
York headquarters of the League for Constructive Immigration
Legislation.
First there are offered for consideration a few suggestions as to the general principles embodied in the bill.
1.
Why establish at this time a principle under which we shall obligate
ourselves in a measure to accept any percentage at all of the nations
of the earth as immigrants and citizens?
Even if such policy is wise now it may not be a few years hence, and the precedent established may cause awkward complications.
2.
Why include all nations in the category? The mere fact that one race
has been permitted to secure citizenship for some of its nationals in
the past is not proof that the action admitting them was wise, or that
others of the same race may be accepted as immigrants and citizens
with advantage.
3. Why place all nations on an assumed basis
of equality when it is clear that some nations will generally furnish
much more desirable citizens and immigrants than others? And is it not
possible that certain nationalities may be regarded favorably as
immigrants and citizens now and unfavorably some years hence?
4.
Why base the number of admissions from each race in the future on the
number of those already here? If we have made mistakes in the past are
we not to be permitted to correct them? In the past, with the exception
of orientals, those came to our shores who desired to come, not those
whom we selected. Under such circumstances are we to bind ourselves to
exclude desirable immigrants and citizens because undesirable ones have
more racial brothers already here?
PROPORTIONS IMPOSED BY BILL.
Let
us see to what the bill of the League for Constructive Immigration
legislation would commit us in the way of selective immigration.
Consulting the tables of the census abstract for 1910, so far as they
can assist in the matter, to ascertain the number of citizens
naturalized and born, of the different cases, which must serve as the
basis of our admissions annually, we get the following astonishing
result:
For every single immigrant that we are willing to
accept under the Gulick plan from France, Holland, Wales, or Mexico,
after the first thousand to which any Nation is entitled, we are
committed to accept the following number from each of the respective
countries named: Germany, 60; Ireland, 30; England, 15; Canada, 15;
Russia, 10; Austria, 8; Sweden, 7; Italy, 7; Norway, 6; Scotland, 4;
Denmark, Hungary, and Switzerland, each 2. From Belgium, Portugal, and
Spain we could not admit a single immigrant unless we admitted from 100
to 600 Germans, and a corresponding number of other nationalities as
enumerated. As between Chinese and Japanese we would be called on in a
short time to admit 10 of the latter to 1 of the former.
Slightly
different results in estimates of this character will be obtained
according to the sources of basic information as to citizens, born and
naturalized, and according to incidental assumptions indulged in. Dr.
Gulick furnishes an estimate according to which we would have to admit
only 30 Germans for every Frenchman, Hollander, or Mexican.
Estimates
of this character, no matter by whom prepared, if based on any reliable
statistics will furnish results demonstrating the utter absurdity, from
an American point of view, of the percentage plan of restriction.
If
we are to amend our immigration laws so as to maintain or raise the
standard of American citizenship and insure the perpetuity of the
American Nation, we should not commit ourselves to admit the peoples of
the earth in any such proportions as called for by this plan.
HOW JAPANESE IMMIGRATION WOULD INCREASE.
In
estimates of this kind it must be borne in mind that the basic factor
of native born under the Gulick plan will be taken from the 1920
census, which will be first available in 1922. There is an incentive
for a large birth record prior to that date. It may, or may not, have
any significance that during the five years of Dr. Gulick's activity in
the interests of this matter, 1914 to 1919, Japan sent over 20,232
picture brides who have faithfully performed their allotted task of
increasing the Japanese birth record.
If there be an
undesirable element in our immigration, which will not intermarry or
assimilate, it may not therefore be so much the actual number admitted
as their future increase which should give us most pause. It should be
remembered that in California the official records show that in certain
localities where they have concentrated the Japanese have a birth rate
five times as great as the whites, although their females, in
proportion to males, are only perhaps one-fourth as numerous as among
the whites. Under such conditions it would be only a question of time
when the Japanese in this country would exceed in numbers another race
which at this time might be twenty times as numerous here. Even the
advantage which the other race might have at the start in allotment
because of its number of naturalized citizens would not prevent it
being overtaken in time.
EVANGELIZING JAPANESE FOR CITIZENSHIP.
The
proposed measure makes all Asiatics here or to come eligible to
citizenship and encourages their coming inasmuch as it fixes a
proportion within which they may be admitted, while under existing
understanding they are classed as undesirable.
Dr. Gulick says in his pamphlet, published in 1915, "Hawaii's American-Japanese Problem," as quoted in the first article:
“If
as Asiatics they (the Japanese) maintain their traditional conception
of God, nature, and man; of male and female; of husband and wife; of
parent and child; of ruler and ruled; of the State and the individual;
the permanent maintenance in Hawaii of American democracy, American
homes, and American liberty is impossible."
The Japanese born and
educated in Japan, with very rare exceptions, certainly do retain these
conceptions even while living in the United States.
Dr.
Gulick again says that the Japanese born here and taught in our public
schools are not thereby prepared for American citizenship since they
are drilled before and after public school hours at home and by
Japanese teachers, most of whom do not speak English and "many of whom
have little acquaintance and no sympathy with American institutions or
a Christian civilization."
Why then is Dr. Gulick so
solicitous to have the United States establish a principle by which the
Japanese will be formally recognized as desirable immigrants and
citizens and encourage conditions which will greatly increase the
number of native-born Japanese? The answer appears in the same
pamphlet, and is quoted below:
GULICK'S EXPERIMENTAL PLAN.
"Is
it not axiomatic that the successful welding together of the many races
now in Hawaii in such wise as to make possible the maintenance of
genuine democracy, with progressive victory over graft, lust, venereal
disease, and alcohol, depends upon the substantial Christianization of
the rising generation of Asiatics?".....
"American and
Asiatic civilizations rest on postulates fundamentally different and
antagonistic. The two civilizations can not be assimilated, but this
does not prevent an Asiatic under proper social conditions from giving
up his inherited civilization and adopting the American. Exactly
because Hawaii is the meeting place of so many diverse races is the
propaganda and practice of vital Christianity the more pressing."
Evidently
Dr. Gulick is satisfied, notwithstanding all the difficulties he points
out, that a Japanese may be turned into a valuable American citizen by
acceptance of Christianity, assisted doubtless by other minor agencies.
It
would appear, therefore, that Dr. Gulick, in promoting his "new
oriental policy" and urging the adoption of his proposed "constructive
immigration" legislation, is willing to risk a grave menace to American
citizenship and the safety of the American Republic in order to promote
a doubtful experiment in evangelization.
But should we
permit Dr. Gulick's optimistic enthusiasm in evangelization to lead the
Nation into serious difficulties? And will the Japanese Government
encourage or permit the Christianizing of its people in return for our
indorsement of Dr. Gulick's "new oriental policy?" And if the
Japanese are unanimously or generally evangelized under this
arrangement, may we safely assume that they will at once lose all those
characteristics which have made them, in Dr. Gulick's opinion, poor
material for American citizenship?
I do not wish to be
considered a pessimist, but it would be untruthful to say that I do not
entertain grave doubts in the matter.
A QUESTION OF POLICY.
Dr.
Gulick insists, too, that the United States will benefit by the
proposed law, as the number of Japanese immigrants admitted will be
less than under existing conditions. He declares that in 1918, 10,213
Japanese were admitted, and that in 1919 the number will be 12,000; and
that the number admitted under his plan, even on a 10 per cent basis,
will be much less. As shown later, he is clearly mistaken on this
point, but concede for the moment that he is right.
Dr.
Gulick frankly allows that the adult Japanese, when he arrives here, is
an undesirable American citizen, and that even the American-born
Japanese, under existing conditions, is not likely to make a good
citizen. His figures prove that the Japanese Government is steadily
violating the spirit of the "gentlemen's agreement," under which the
Japanese were to be kept out; and yet he recommends urgently that we
formally recognize the Japanese as eligible to citizenship and
encourage them to come in by establishing an annual Japanese
immigration quota.
Dr. Gulick claims American citizenship,
but I am at a loss to understand his reasoning. It would seem to me,
under such circumstances, since the Japanese make poor citizens and the
Japanese Government is deliberately violating the intent of the
agreement, a staunch American citizen would urge our Government to
cancel at once the "gentlemen's agreement," to stop the importation of
"picture brides," to bar further Japanese immigration, and to encourage
the individual States to pass alien land laws.
In other
words, the first care of an American citizen would naturally be for the
protection of American institutions and the American franchise, rather
than solicitude to meet the demands, inconsistent and probably harmful
to us, of a foreign nation, however friendly we might be with that
nation.
THE PLAN INCREASES JAPANESE IMMIGRATION.
It
has been suggested already that the bad faith of Japan in shipping to
us each year 10,000 or more Japanese in violation of the letter and
spirit of the gentlemen's agreement is not a good reason for formal
recognition by us of the Japanese as immigrants and citizens, even if
thereby we receive annually a smaller influx legally than is now forced
on us illegally. While Dr. Gulick claims the admissions will be
smaller, the facts contradict him. He has published tables showing the
highest allotment to Japan annually under the percentage plan as 5,800.
But this estimate is for 1918 and preceding years based on the
assumption that the plan had been put into effect in 1910. He offers no
figures for the future in which we are really concerned, so far as I
have read, except in an article published in the New York Independent
in May, 1919, wherein he declares that the Japanese immigration under
this plan in 1935 will not exceed 5,400.
I have carried Dr.
Gulick's tables beyond 1918, where he stops them, and far into the
future -- 200 years -- which is short enough time to consider in the life of
a great nation like this. The details of those tables will be reserved
for another article. This summary will suffice for present purposes.
If
the Gulick plan were in force on July 1, 1919, and no immigrants were
admitted in excess of the "allotment" to each race, the Japanese
immigration for each of the years 1919, 1920, and 1921 would be cut
down to 2,500. In 1922 it would be 7,500 -- the census for 1920 being
then available with the record of native-born. In 1923 or 1924 the
allotment would be increased by 10 per cent of the number of present
residents who would have become naturalized, say less than 25 per cent,
50,000; and each year thereafter it would be increased by 10 per cent
of the number of those immigrants coming in five years before who had
become citizens.
The annual immigration in either 1923 or
1924 would therefore jump to a figure in excess of 12,500, and would
steadily increase thereafter, reaching 16,000 in 1933 and 23,000 in
1943.
INCREASE IN JAPANESE POPULATION.
The
increase in total Japanese population is, however, the important and
the alarming feature. At present the records in California show a net
annual increase of Japanese population, due to excess of births over
deaths, of between 3½ and 4 per cent. Assuming that this increase will
be only 2 per cent in the future, and that the total Japanese
population in 1923 will be 300,000 (the present population is estimated
at 250,000), the population including immigration would double in less
than 20 years. In 1943 it would be 875,000.
At the same rate
in 40 years from 1923 the Japanese population of the United States
under operation of the Gulick plan would be, in round figures
2,000,000; in 80 years, 10,000,000; in 140 years, 100,000,000.
Long
before then the white race would have succumbed in the economic
competition and the world's glorious Republic would have become a
Province of Japan.
Results under the gentlemen's agreement as now operated by Japan will be slower of attainment but equally certain in the end.
ALL ASIATICS ELIGIBLE.
The
bill makes all Asiatics on admission to the United States eligible for
citizenship. The effect of this in the Territory of Hawaii would be to
create at once a citizenry of Japanese almost equal in number to the
voters of all other races combined and four times as numerous as those
of the Caucasian or any other race.
These Japanese would
manage Hawaii -- not as a Territory of the United States but as a Province
of Japan. The testimony offered on this score in these articles is
convincing.
Another effect of this provision would be to
permit the newly made citizens in Hawaii to come to the mainland and
swell the number of their race in California. They would come, as they
are eager to settle in California because of its superior advantages in
many ways. They could come many thousands strong and still leave enough
of their race in Hawaii to control it. They are not supposed to come to
the mainland now under the "gentlemen's agreement."
There
are many Asiatics who are less desirable as citizens and immigrants
than the Japanese. Our objections to the Japanese are based on grounds
which are in a measure creditable to them; but certain other Asiatics,
while not offering the danger in economic competition which we find in
the Japanese, are objectionable on other grounds -- sanitary, physical,
and mental.
THE STUDENT PROVISION.
The student
provision permits any number of "students" to come in, and no provision
is made as to their occupation while here or as to their return. Under
this provision many thousands of Japanese could come into the United
States, attend school for a few months, and then distribute themselves
through the country as laborers. This is so patent that it seems
strange it should have escaped the attention of the framers of the bill.
AN ASYLUM FOR THE PERSECUTED.
Again,
it is proposed that any alien claiming religious persecution in his own
country, either in overt act or through law or regulation, shall be
admitted into this country on application and become at once eligible
for citizenship.
This country can not longer afford to serve
as an asylum for everyone claiming persecution elsewhere, however
unfitted he may be for American citizenship, if we are to maintain a
standard of citizenship which will insure the perpetuity of the Nation.
Under
the provision named we would have to admit without question every
Russian Jew, every Armenian, and every Christian Asiatic who might be
persecuted in his own country. There would be in all of these classes
individuals who would make desirable citizens, but it would be unwise
to pledge ourselves to admit everyone who applied.
It can
not be doubted that the responsible heads of the Federal Council of
Churches of Christ of America, and nearly all -- possibly all -- of the 1,000
national committeemen who stood sponsors for the "new oriental policy"
and the percentage plan for restriction of immigration put forth in the
name of the League of Constructive Immigration Legislation had no
knowledge of the facts given to the public in these articles and no
conception of the results which may be feared from any encouragement of
Asiatic immigration.
SUGGESTED SAFEGUARDS.
Consideration
of the facts presented in these articles naturally suggested the
following as points worthy at least of careful thought on the part of
Uncle Sam in connection with the immigration problem:
Why
not decide now and for all time that our immigration policy, our
naturalization policy, and all our national policies shall be based,
not on what someone else desires or demands, but on what is best for
the comfort and happiness of the loyal American citizen, for the
maintenance of the American home, and for the preservation of the
American Nation?
If it be wise to restrict immigration, and
our experience indicates that it is wise to do so, why not decide on
the number we care to admit each year, and select them from the most
desirable who present themselves, regardless of the number of their
respective races who are already here? Let each applicant be judged on
individual merit.
So far as the Japanese are concerned,
since the facts conclusively demonstrate that their continued
immigration threaten our labor, our industries, our economic life, and
eventually our existence as a nation, why hesitate to adopt at once the
only remedial measures which can save us. These remedies, as originally
suggested by me are:
First. Cancellation of the "gentlemen's agreement."
Second. Exclusion of "picture brides."
Third. Absolute exclusion of Japanese as immigrants, as other Asiatics are excluded.
Fourth. Confirmation and legalization of the principle that Asiatics shall be forever barred from American citizenship.
Fifth.
Amendment of section 1 of Article XIV of the Federal Constitution so as
to provide that no child born in the United States of foreign parents
shall be eligible to American citizenship unless both parents are
eligible to such citizenship.
OUR INTERESTS OR JAPAN'S?
Against
these suggestions there will be raked at once the objection that all or
any part of the measures proposed will hurt Japan's pride, and must not
be attempted. There does not occur to me any other objection that might
be offered.
They should not hurt Japan's pride, for they are
based on economic and not on racial grounds. They are in effect the
same measures which she enforces against the Chinese and Koreans, who
are, too, of the yellow race, and for precisely similar reasons. They
are measures enforced against Japan by Canada and Australia,
notwithstanding that Great Britain is Japan's ally. And the Paris
conference declined to consider Japan's demand for recognition of the
question under the head of "Racial discrimination," because Australia
most vigorously protested, and because Japan's claim was inconsistent
and untenable.
And if, notwithstanding all this, Japan shall
insist that her pride will be hurt if we protect ourselves in the
manner indicated, and that we must not do it, then it would seem to be
up to the American Nation to say, very politely, that, much as it pains
us to run counter to the susceptibilities of our good friends in Japan,
our first care must be for the perpetuity of American institutions, and
the freedom and happiness of our people, as the first consideration of
Japan must be for her own people and their ideals.
ARTICLE IV. OUR JAPANESE PROBLEM.
THE
"GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT" AND THE PERCENTAGE RESTRICTION PLAN -- GROSS
VIOLATIONS OF THE AGREEMENT -- THE PROPOSED PLAN WILL LARGELY INCREASE THE
PRESENT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION -- EITHER PLAN IN TIME WILL MAKE A JAPANESE
PROVINCE OF THIS COUNTRY -- A MATHEMATICAL DEMONSTRATION.
(From the Sacramento Bee, July 29, 1919.)
The
Saturday Evening Post is the first American magazine of large
circulation published in an Atlantic environment to give a fair,
intelligent, statesmanlike, and American presentation of the vexed
subject of Japanese immigration.
This is done in a lengthy
article by Herbert Quick under the title "Seventeen Year People,"
published in the issue of June 28th, and devoted to a consideration of
the undesirable, damaging, and locust-like elements which descend upon
American citizenship through the open immigration gates, and from which
we must be protected if American institutions are to be preserved.
OUR COUNTRY.
Mr.
Quick puts the matter fairly when he says in effect that this is our
country and we are under no obligations to admit any foreigner; that we
should tactfully but firmly let the world know that we claim the right
to exclude anyone we wish to exclude; that the life of this democracy
depends upon the sort of immigrants admitted; that the discussion of
the Japanese immigration problems should be encouraged and not frowned
upon; that there is nothing discreditable to the Japanese in our
attitude on this question; that we will not admit them because they do
not and can not assimilate, and because, in economic competition, they
drive our people to the wall; that we will not admit immigration freely
under such conditions from any country, no matter what the
consideration offered or the consequences involved; and that we have
the right to make such a decision and the power to enforce it.
WHY WE SHOULD NOT ADMIT JAPANESE.
He
says:
"We have become unfitted for competition with such a race as the
Japanese. It is because they know their superiority to us in industrial
competition that they desire to come, such of them as do so desire.
"They
come to underlive us and drive us to the wall unless we adjust
ourselves to their competition. They can pay more for land than an
American can pay, and prosper at the higher prices; and this means that
they have the power to establish a lower scale of actual wages."
NEVER AGAIN.
And
again he says:
"One of our most insoluble troubles as a Nation rises
from the existence among us of a colored race; and, make no mistake, we
shall never allow another similar problem to grow up among us."
MAY THE EAST SEE THE LIGHT.
The
principles outlined by the Saturday Evening Post author are precisely
the principles for which the Pacific coast has contended for many
years; they are the principles for which California contended when she
attempted to protect her little girls by compelling grown Japanese
youths to attend separate schools, and when she attempted to protect
her agricultural population by passing an alien land law; they are the
principles which up to this time it has been difficult for a man east
of the Rockies to appreciate or understand, while he insisted that the
Pacific coast attitude is simply a manifestation of racial prejudice
against a friendly nation.
AN ECONOMIC ONE.
The
question is an economic rather than a racial one, and where the element
of race enters as a factor there is no question of inferiority
involved. It has been sufficiently demonstrated that the Japanese can
not be transformed in the melting pot into desirable material for
citizenship, as can most Europeans; and that in the attempt to so
transform him the white people of this Republic must go to the wall.
ENOUGH REASON.
That
is sufficient reason for refusing to permit the entrance of Japanese;
and when Japan insists that such refusal is humiliating to her pride
she is indulging in diplomatic camouflage in order to win her point.
She will follow that policy as long as it promises success.
QUICK MISLED.
While
the author of the Saturday Evening Post article has admirably outlined
the principles upon which the great problem must be solved for the
permanent protection of the American Republic, he has been misled in
two important matters concerning existing conditions and the imminence
of the danger.
GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT AND GULICK PLAN.
He
says, for instance, concerning the present arrangement, that "Japan and
the United States are working under a gentlemen's agreement under which
Japanese laborers do not come to the United States. It is a gentlemen's
agreement, which is kept in a gentlemanly manner;" and again that
"Japan keeps her agreement faithfully, but she is not satisfied."
VIOLATES IT.
The
fact is that there could not be more flagrant violation of a
gentlemen's agreement than Japan has been guilty of in this case.
She
boasts that she always keeps her agreements, and through skillful
propaganda some Americans have commenced to believe so. Her bad faith
is boldly placarded on her record in China, in Korea, in Manchuria, in
Siberia, in Shantung, where those who have had relations with her have
experienced it, and where the student and investigator may readily read
it. In this immigration matter the record, as will be shown, is
unmistakable.
MISLED BY GULICK.
Herbert Quick has
been misled again into believing, on the authority of Sidney L. Gulick,
that the bill proposed by Gulick in the name of the League for
Constructive Immigration Legislation, restricting immigration to a
percentage basis, would permanently "confine oriental immigration to
limits of absolute harmlessness," and that it would therefore
satisfactorily solve the Japanese problem.
On the contrary,
the Gulick plan would insure a greater immigration from Japan than is
now coming to us, and by which in time the Pacific coast, and
ultimately the Nation, would be submerged.
JAPAN'S VIOLATION OF AGREEMENT.
The
gentlemen's agreement provides a guaranty on Japan's part that she will
not permit Japanese laborers to come to this country. But every year a
number of Japanese, guaranteed by Japan under the agreement, are turned
back at our entry ports by United States customs officials because of
indisputable evidence that these men are laborers.
HER EXPLANATION A JOKE.
Japan's
explanation is that it is not practicable for her to avoid being made
the victim of deception at times by those seeking to come to the United
States.
The statement that the Government of Japan would not
know, or could not readily ascertain, the occupation and intimate
personal history of any one of her subjects will be hailed as a joke by
anyone familiar with the German-like intelligence system maintained by
that Government.
12,000 COMING.
Japan sent us
last year over 10,000 immigrants. This year there will be 12,000,
according to Dr. Gulick. Each immigrant comes bearing Japan's passport
and her word as a gentleman that the newcomer is not a laborer.
Most of them will be found at labor, skilled and unskilled, within a few weeks after they step ashore.
Japan
may class them as dilettanti for passport purposes, but they are
laborers in fact or intent before they start, because of the chance of
earning here from five to ten times what they can in Japan. Our
officials admit them presumably because there is no evidence to
disprove Japan's assurance.
50,000 "NONLABORERS."
Since
Japan passed her word as a gentleman in this matter in 1907 there have
settled in California alone about 50,000 Japanese, duly certified as
nonlaborers.
The number is ascertained by comparing
California's Japanese population in 1907 and 1918, and making allowance
for the recorded births and deaths in that interval.
It is
comparatively easy for any investigator to satisfy himself that most of
these immigrants secured places at once as laborers, and, with
exception of those who graduated into bosses, have been laborers since.
Of
those who did not labor the greater part went into gainful occupations
that, directly or indirectly, displaced white residents and American
citizens.
PICTURE BRIDES.
In less than five years
past Japan has sent over 20,323 "picture brides," of which number all
but 6,864 came to the mainland. Most of these picture brides are
laborers, doing a man's work in field or shop, and incidentally bearing
children, frequently at the rate of one per year.
ALL VIOLATIONS.
Every
Japanese who came to this country since the date of the agreement in
1907, and who has earned his livelihood by labor since, scores a
violation of the agreement and of Japan's word; and anyone familiar
with the situation knows that these violations are already numbered by
the tens of thousands.
No; Japan's bad faith and Uncle Sam's blind complaisance have made a scrap of paper of the gentlemen's agreement.
If
Japan is to be permitted to continue sending these people in at the
rate of 12,000 a year through the immigration office, and unnumbered
others across the border, let us at least cease to fool ourselves as to
what is occurring and who is responsible therefore.
GULICK PLAN WORSE STILL.
Now,
as to the remedy, enticingly offered by Sidney Gulick and his League
for Constructive Immigration Legislation in his proposed percentage
plan for restricting immigration. Dr. Gulick explains -- and Herbert Quick
accepts the explanation -- that as Japan is faithfully keeping the
gentlemen's agreement, the percentage immigration plan is a desirable
thing because the Japanese immigration under it will be less than under
the present agreement.
A PARALLEL.
Assuming -- for
the moment only -- that Japanese immigration under the Gulick plan would
be less, the plea to adopt the plan is a piece of quiet and of course
unintentional humor. The case is parallel with that of the highway
robber who, having exacted annual tribute of $10,000 to $12,000 in
violation of his word "as a gentleman," makes a proposition to his
victim that for certain valuable concessions and considerations he will
inaugurate a plan under which he claims the tribute shall be much less,
though it will really be more in a short while.
WILL JAPANIZE US.
In the present case the consideration demanded is the permanent acceptance of the Japanese as immigrants and citizens.
The
plan proposed, too, while it is guaranteed to decrease Japanese
immigration, .as now sent in violation of the gentlemen's agreement,
will really increase it.
THE GULICK TABLE OF RESULTS.
The
Gulick plan proposes to restrict the immigration from any race in any
year to a percentage, say 10, of (a) the American-born children of
that race, according to the census of 1920 when the figures are
available, and, until then, according to the census of 1910; plus (b)
the naturalized members of the race according to the last census; plus
(c) the members naturalized since such census (and the Bureau of
Naturalization is instructed to compile and furnish such data annually).
Tables
are offered in support of the contention that the percentage plan would
permit less Japanese immigration than the present arrangement with
Japan. But these tables deal only with the past, showing that if the
proposed measure had been adopted in 1910 the highest annual
"allotment" to Japan between 1910 and 1918 would have been 5,800, while
the average immigration was greater, being 10,000 in 1918.
In
addition, Dr. Gulick in the New York Independent of May 10, 1919,
claimed that the Japanese immigration under his plan would be 40 per
cent less in 1935 than had entered the United States in 1917, i.e., 40
per cent less than 8,991, say 5,400.
Gulick's tables,
however, avoid showing results under the plan in future years: and no
mention is made of the fact that the bill provides for admissions
outside the "allotment," which would multiple that allotment several
fold.
WHAT WILL REALLY HAPPEN.
Let us assume that
the bill will be passed by Congress this year, and see what the future
would have in store for us. The Japanese allotment for each of the
years 1919, 1920, and 1921 would be, in rough numbers, 2,500, being 10
per cent of the native-born Japanese, according to the census of 1910.
In
1922 the figures for the census of 1920 would be available, and based
on a native-born population in 1920 of 75,000 (easily demonstrable by
statistics and the birth rate), the Japanese allotment would jump at
once to 7,500.
In 1923 the allotment would receive its first
addition from the naturalized element, as it would take five years for
aliens to receive final papers. If it be assumed that 50 per cent of
the adult Japanese now under the American flag could and would qualify
for citizenship, this factor would be 100,000, and 10,000 would be
added to the annual allotment, making it 17,500.
If it be
assumed that only 20 to 25 per cent would qualify, the factor would be
50,000, and 5,000 would be added to the allotment, making the total
12,500. Even in this case the allotment would be in excess of the high
mark of actual immigration for 1918 or of that estimated for 1919.
It
may be said in passing, however, that a race demanding American
citizenship, which fails to qualify at least 50 per cent of those here,
after, five years' residence, is not good material for citizenship;
they are here for their profit, and not for our benefit; and if they
will not make good citizens, they are undesirable as immigrants and
permanent residents.
"ALLOTMENT" ONLY A PART OF IMMIGRATION.
But
the allotment is only a small measure of the immigration which must be
admitted under the provisions of the Gulick bill. Every immigrant who
comes in and every one now here is entitled to bring, or send for, a
wife (and "picture brides" are wives under Japan's procedure) and
certain relatives; and "students," who may turn at once to labor, and
those who claim to be objects of religious persecution must be
admitted, without limit or restriction.
So that the
"allotment" may be only one-half, or one-quarter, or even a smaller
proportion of the actual immigration for the year, and the Japanese
immigration in 1923 might be anywhere between 30,000 and 75,000.
These
misleading tables and statements claiming less immigration under the
percentage plan than under the present agreement, have been published
for two years or more past, while the authorized versions of the
proposed bill given out at the same time contained the provisions above
noted and others. Within the past few weeks, under public criticism,
modification of some of these provisions has been made, but their
presence in the original bill sufficiently indicates the intent of the
authors thereof.
THE GREAT MENACE -- NONASSIMILATION AND BIRTH RATE.
The
real menace in Japanese immigration is found in three elements. The
Japanese do not intermarry with the whites and are never assimilated;
they have a birth rate greatly in excess of the average in this
country; and the white race can not face them in economic competition.
The
Japanese birth rate per thousand in Sacramento City and elsewhere in
California where opportunity for comparison exists is five times as
great as that of the white population, as shown by State board of
health records.
In Los Angeles County, the most populous
county in the State, the Japanese births for the month of May, 1919,
outside of the incorporated cities, were one-third as many as the white
births in those districts. (Los Angeles Times, June 30, 1919.) The
suburban and county population of Los Angeles County is large.
In
San Joaquin County during the six months ending July 1, 1919, there
were 282 births. Of this number 113 were to native-born American
parents, 104 were to Japanese, and the remaining 65 to European
foreigners. There were 178 white births and 245 deaths; and 104
Japanese births and only 17 deaths, i.e., the deaths among the whites
exceeded the births by 40 per cent; the deaths among the Japanese were
only one-sixth of the births. (Stockton Record, July 19, 1919.)
The
actual number of Japanese immigrants therefore does not afford an
adequate idea of the danger that their coming creates for this country.
The number, however small, concentrates in a few chosen localities,
thus making their numbers and their racial characteristics tell so that
in economic competition they displace the whites. As more of their race
come in, other localities are selected and the same plan followed.
Europeans, even of objectionable peoples, would intermarry and in time be assimilated, but the Japanese, never.
It
is evident with these racial characteristics and economic advantages,
and their overwhelming birth rate, it would require only time for a few
hundred thousand Japanese to displace millions of Americans. Even the
handicap of a small naturalized population at first would only delay
the inevitable result under the percentage immigration plan, while the
advocates of that plan insist it would keep the Japanese proportion
down permanently.
Make a table showing the "allotments" and
birth and population statistics for 20 years under the percentage plan,
for the Japanese and any other race, conceding that the Japanese at the
start have only one-twentieth as many naturalized citizens as the other
race, but their birth rate is five times as great.
In 20
years, the Japanese annual births will equal their annual immigration
allotment, and that 20-to-l proportion, notwithstanding the
comparatively small Japanese allotment, will show each five years a
slow decrease as to immigrants, and a rapid decrease as to total
population.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN 25 YEARS.
Under
the Gulick plan the Japanese will steadily gain on any and all races
which send over immigrants, first, because the allotment factor of
their native born under the 1920 census will represent a greater
proportion of their naturalized citizens than will be the case with any
other race; and, second, because those who find admission will
reproduce much more rapidly than the immigrants of any other race.
To
demonstrate mathematically that the percentage plan will materially
increase even the present Japanese immigration unfairly sent to us
under violation of the "gentlemen's agreement," I have prepared a table
along the lines followed by Dr. Gulick, but showing what he does not
show -- the results of the next 25 years, if Congress should adopt the
plan this year.
That the plan might have every reasonable
chance consistent with the facts, to make a good showing, the table is
based on the following assumptions: That all provisions allowing
immigration in excess of the annual "allotment," will be stricken from
the bill; that only 50,000 Japanese will qualify for citizenship five
years hence; that of the new immigrants coming in each year, two-fifths
only will qualify at the end of five years' residence; that the
native-born Japanese under the census of 1920 will number 75,000; that
the total Japanese population in the United States in 1923 will be only
300,000, and that the annual increase in population due to excess of
births over deaths, will be 2 per cent (the present record in
California is nearly 4 per cent).
And this is what the table
shows. The total Japanese immigration admitted under the allotment for
each of the years 1919, 1920, and 1921, will be only 2,500. In 1922
there will be 7,500; in 1923, 12,600 (7,500 plus 5,100); in 1933,
16,316 (7,500 plus 8,816); in 1943, 22,987 (7,500 plus 15,487).
The partial increase of population measured by births less deaths will be, in 1923, 6,000; in 1933, 9,800; in 1943, 16,100.
The total annual net increase in population, measured by the last two factors, will be 18,600 in 1923 and 39,000 in 1943.
The
total Japanese population of the United States will be -- at the end of
1923 -- 318,600; at the end of 1933, 542,000; at the end of 1943,
875,000.
Present conditions justify the prediction that most
of this population will be centered in the Pacific Coast States, and
that one-half to two-thirds will be in California. That number of
Japanese will go far toward owning those States, economically speaking,
and Japanese immigration in the years following can take possession in
turn of the more favored of the remaining States, until all that seem
worth while to discriminating Japanese taste have been fully colonized.
LOOKING AHEAD 100 YEARS.
But
let us look still further ahead into the future. Twenty-five years
should be but as a month in the life of a great nation like ours. Under
the percentage plan for restricting immigration, our Japanese
population will have increased nearly threefold in 20 years from 1923.
To be exact, the increase is 266 percent, the native-born under the
1920 census, a fixed annual amount, contributing 50 per cent, and the
other 216 per cent being composed of the naturalized element of the
annual allotment, plus the annual births, and less the deaths -- a
constantly increasing amount.
At that same rate in 40 years
from 1923, the Japanese population of the United States under operation
of the Gulick plan would be, in round figures, 2,000,000; in 80 years,
10,000,000; in 140 years, 100,000,000; in 160 years, 216,000,000.
Long
before then the white race would have succumbed in the economic
competition and the world's glorious Republic would have become a
Province of Japan.
The objection will be made to these
tables that the ratio of increase used in preparing them will not be
maintained; that if it were, the Japanese population of the United
States in a few hundred years would run into billions.
It is
undoubtedly true that the ratio used will not permanently maintain.
Those who have made close study of this subject say that the birth rate
of a race decreases with higher standards of living and adaptation to
western civilization; but they also say that in a case of the kind
under consideration the invading race maintains a superior birth rate
at least until the invaded race has succumbed through economic
competition or force of arms.
In my tables there has been
used a ratio which is only one-half of the present ratio of natural
increase of the Japanese in California. The ratio in Hawaii is about
the same as in California. That half ratio, augmented by immigration,
doubles the population in 20 years. In Japan at present the population
without immigration doubles in about 50 years it is said.
If
the Japanese continue to come into the United States the rate of
increase here will not drop to the present standard of Japan for many
generations in all probability.
The reasons are that 90 per
cent of those admitted here in the past 20 years were between 14 and 44
years of age. They were in the vigor of life and, with imported
"picture bride," and with the incentive of citizenship for native-born
children, established a high birth rate. The clearly defined policy of
Japan in "peaceful penetration" of this country will continue to send
over the same class of immigrants who will rapidly reproduce and
conditions here as to land ownership and control will encourage such
increase. The continued influx of this vigorous element alone would
maintain here a higher birth rate than in Japan, and when the Japanese
birth rate here drops to the standard in Japan or even lower it will
still be far above the average white birth rate here.
So
that at best all that critics of these figures can hope for is that the
final collapse of the American Republic under the proposed percentage
immigration plan may be postponed a generation or two.
Results
under the gentlemen's agreement as now operated by Japan will be slower
of attainment but equally certain in the end. This is the situation
which we face. What is the remedy?
WE HAVE THREE ALTERNATIVES.
Herbert
Quick has properly sensed the importance of the Japanese problem to the
American people. But he did not, apparently, have the information which
would have shown him the extreme gravity of the existing situation and
the danger that lies either in a continuance of present conditions or
in the adoption of the plan proposed by the League for Constructive
Immigration Legislation.
Those things are made plain by the
facts and figures contained in this article and the three preceding
ones published last month.
At present, apparently, there are three alternative courses open to the United States in this matter. It may either:
1.
Continue the present arrangement and permit Japan to send us a steady
and increasing stream of Japanese labor under cover of the gentlemen's
agreement, though in flagrant violation of its express terms; or,
2.
Replace the gentlemen's agreement by the Gulick League plan for
restricting immigration upon a percentage basis and incidentally
insuring Asiatics admission to the country as immigrants and citizens
in a guaranteed proportion; or,
3. Cancel the gentlemen's
agreement and join Canada and Australia in barring Japanese and all
undesirable Asiatics from citizenship or permanent residence in the
country as a measure of protection for the white race and American
institutions.
CONSEQUENCE OF THE PRESENT PLAN.
It
has been shown that under the present plan the Japanese population in
this country has multiplied sixfold since 1900, while the Chinese
population has decreased over one-half; that the Japanese births in
California multiplied twentyfold in the past 12 years; that the
Japanese birth rate per thousand in communities in that State is five
times as great as that of the whites; that in industries and entire
communities whites have been displaced by Japanese, who by
concentration make their numbers count; that California sees ahead of
her the fate of Hawaii, which already is hopelessly Japanese; that the
Japanese in Hawaii comprise half the total population and more than
four times that of any other race, and now dominate social and
political matters, while in a comparatively few years they will rule
the territory by the votes of native-born Japanese who are not
Americans but Japanese in sympathies, ideals, and loyalty; that what
has happened in Hawaii and is steadily progressing in California will
be brought about inevitably in time in other favored portions of the
United States under continuance of existing conditions until eventually
this country becomes a province of Japan.
CONSEQUENCES UNDER GULICK LEAGUE PLANS.
So
far as concerns the second alternative, the Gulick League plan, the
facts presented show that it promises much but performs little; that
under it the tide of Japanese immigration coming in gross violation of
the gentlemen's agreement would not be lessened but would be steadily
increased; that it formally indorses as desirable immigrants and
citizens members of a race which experience has shown can not be
assimilated into our Nation and which in economic competition has
driven the white race to the wall wherever the two have met; and that
any indorsement of the plan by intelligent and loyal Americans must
have been given in ignorance of these facts necessarily.
THE EXCLUSION PLAN.
The
plain statement of the case should remove either the first or second
alternative course from further serious consideration by the country.
There remains, then, the third course -- cancellation of the gentlemen's
agreement and absolute exclusion for the future of Japanese and other
undesirable or economically dangerous Asiatics, either as immigrants or
citizens.
That course certainly would prevent spread of the
evil, so far as spread thereof may be legally or justly prevented, and
it is obviously, as shown by careful consideration of the situation,
the only method by which any adequate remedy may be applied.
Even
that remedy will fail to effect a cure in Hawaii for many generations,
if it ever can be done, and districts of the Pacific coast must bear
for years the burden placed upon them by the bad faith of Japan and the
blind complaisance of Washington.
As Herbert Quick says,
this Nation has the right and power to protect itself in this way.
There are only two arguments that have been or can be offered against
it, and both have been gently urged by Dr. Gulick in his campaign and
would have been pressed, doubtless, upon the House Committee on
Immigration had it, in compliance with the request made, held executive
sessions on the subject.
THE HURT TO JAPAN'S PRIDE.
One argument is that such a course would be hurtful to the pride of Japan, a friendly nation.
Japan's
pride can be hurt only if it insists on being hurt when she demands and
is refused an unfair and unjust thing and a thing which she in turn has
fairly and justly refused to other nations of her own color -- to wit,
Korea and China.
And if she does insist on feeling
humiliated, or so declares, shall we be governed in our conduct of this
nation by the false pride, even of a friendly power, or by the
unmistakable requirements of our own safety?
THE MAILED FIST.
The
other argument is that if Japan resents our action in the matter the
peace of the world may be disturbed, meaning that the United States may
have to go to war.
Is it not about time that the world, and
particularly the United States, ceased to accord to Japan everything
she demands, just or unjust, under the threat, sometimes veiled and
sometimes outspoken, that otherwise she will not play in our back yard
and may even throw bricks through our exposed windows?
What
kind of Americanism is it that demands or suggests such a humiliating
national policy when we are plainly in the right and when our
compliance with demands or even acceptance of existing conditions
spells certain danger and possible disaster to the American home and
American institutions?
Herbert Quick says, referring to the
countries of Asia, "We simply will not admit immigration from those
countries freely, no matter what the consequences."
To which
might be added: "If there be any American who, after careful
consideration of the facts as now offered to the public, favors
yielding to the demands or desires of Japan, whether presented formally
through her own representatives or in a roundabout way through some of
our misguided or misinformed citizens, let him stand up and be counted."
The
situation calls for action -- action deliberate and tactful, so far as
tact does not mean delay or diversion from the main purpose -- but, above
all, action prompt and decisive.
JAPANESE OR AMERICANS?
WHICH SHALL RULE AND OCCUPY THE UNITED STATES IN YEARS TO COME? -- A COMPENDIUM OF FACTS ALREADY PUBLISHED.
Under
the title of "Indisputable facts and figures proving California will
become Japanized unless yellow peril stamped out," the December number
of the Grizzly Bear, official organ of the Native Sons and Native
Daughters of the Golden West, publishes the following article by V. S.
McClatchy, publisher of the Bee:
Position and privilege
carry with them obligation and responsibility. We, who were born under
the sunny skies of California, who feel and profess a love for the
glorious State, certainly owe her support and protection in her hour of
need and danger.
The Native Sons and Native Daughters of the
Golden West, who have sought through their organization to make public
profession of the love and fealty that is in them can not strive in a
better cause than in safeguarding the State's future freedom from
foreign enslavement and in insuring to their children and to their
children's children the enjoyment of California's hills and valleys in
the glorious years to come.
And when the same danger that
threatens the State threatens equally, in time, the entire Nation, then
is their duty as Californians reinforced by their greater duty as
Americans to meet and overcome the impending peril.
The
State and the Nation are faced now by such a danger. It has already
developed within our State and, unless opposed and conquered, will
destroy the State for white occupation within a comparatively short
time and then rapidly extend until other States and all States
eventually succumb.
NOT A MATTER OF OPINION.
Even
under existing conditions it will be a matter of a few generations only
before the Japanese will have so increased in this State that, with the
advantages possessed by them in economic competition, they will have
successfully ousted the white races from desirable industries and from
all desirable localities, as has been done already in a few locations.
The result will be hastened if legislation now urged in Congress shall
be passed.
This is not simply the expression of an
individual opinion, open to criticism and possessing no weight in the
face of opposing opinion; it is the statement of an incontrovertible
fact, mathematically demonstrated by acknowledged conditions and by
statistics which have not yet been contradicted or met, though they
were first presented by me in opposition to the proposed bill of Sidney
L. Gulick before the Congressional House Immigration Committee in June
of this year.
It is a source of gratification, therefore, to
know that the native sons and native daughters have risen already to
the occasion and launched in Los Angeles an organization -- the Los
Angeles County Anti-Asiatic Association -- in favor of Asiatic exclusion,
and that individual parlors of these orders throughout the State have
adopted ringing resolutions asking their congressional Representatives
to commence remedial measures.
THE REAL ISSUE.
The
brotherhood of man and the golden rule are appealed to by those who
would inundate us gradually with the yellow tide from Japan; but
neither principle calls for the surrender by the white race of their
favored land to a yellow race which covets it because it offers
advantages superior to those which can be found elsewhere. Remember,
always, that this problem in its final analysis is simply, "Shall this
country of ours be held for our white descendants, or shall it be
turned over to the Japanese, that they may rule those descendants as
they rule in Korea to-day?"
Remember, again, that there is
involved in the subject no question as to racial equality, no
reflection upon the Japanese. In fact, our stand upon this matter
includes a frank admission that the Japanese are so much our superiors
in certain admirable qualities, such as economy, industry, and
discipline, that, coupled with their lower standards of living, they
would drive the white race to the wall in open economic competition,
and that this disaster will inevitably follow if the Japanese are
admitted to the country, or to certain portions thereof, in sufficient
numbers to make their economic advantages count.
JAPAN MAKES PRECEDENT.
And
remember, too, that the right which we claim of protecting our people
and our institutions against the importation of cheap labor with lower
standards of living is precisely the right claimed and exercised by
Japan herself, notwithstanding her vociferous protestations against our
attitude and her demand for "racial equality," as a basis for free
admission for her immigrants to the United States, Canada, and
Australia; that under Imperial Ordinance No. 352, Japan does not admit,
and never has admitted, the cheap labor of Korea and China,
notwithstanding it is also yellow in color, and says publicly that she
excludes these people because their lower standards of living would
make their competition unfair to the Japanese.
It is assumed
that no one will question the propriety of the principles outlined
above, provided the facts are as represented. It remains only to
present those facts. Incidentally, it should be said that in the space
of a magazine article the matter can be presented in outline only, and
those who desire fuller explanations and details and the statistics are
referred to statements made by me before the House Immigration
Committee, September 25, and before the Senate Immigration Committee,
October 10, of this year, and now in print; or to my published articles
which have since been issued in booklet form.
"THE GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT."
The
established policy of the United States is against Asiatic immigration,
because the lower standards of living of these immigrants and their
possible number would seriously endanger the happiness and prosperity
of our people, and the perpetuity of our institutions. The Chinese are
kept out under the exclusion act. Japan was touched in her pride, or
said she was, by having her laborers excluded by law, and offered to
exclude them voluntarily if she was not placed in the same category
with China. Hence the "gentlemen's agreement," which has been in
operation since 1907, and under which Japan, it was understood, would
restrict immigration of Japanese to this country as immigration of
Chinese was restricted by law. The declared object of the agreement was
to prevent Japanese laborers, skilled and unskilled, coming into
continental United States. No Japanese, unless born under the American
flag in Hawaii, and therefore a citizen, may enter any port of
continental United States unless he carries Japan's passport, which is
in effect Japan's word as a "gentleman" that the immigrant is not a
laborer, and does not come to labor.
The agreement has been
grossly violated by Japan. It is only necessary to say that the
Japanese population of the United States since 1900 has increased
sixfold, while the Chinese population has decreased over one-half; and
Japan was to have secured under the agreement results as to the
Japanese similar to those secured as to the Chinese by the exclusion
act.
So that, even if the agreement had been kept in good
faith, it has failed entirely to accomplish the clearly declared
purpose for which it was entered into, and should therefore be
abrogated. As a matter of fact, it could have accomplished that purpose
had Japan acted up to its letter and its spirit. Under that agreement
as now operating it would require only a few generations to make of
California an economic principality of Japan, and drive Californians to
other States, where, in time, they would have to succumb to the
ever-increasing yellow tide from Japan.
MANY JAPANESE COMING.
From
10,000 to 12,000 Japanese immigrants are coming in each year under this
agreement; and most of them are at labor within a few weeks after their
arrival, while others go into gainful occupations which displace whites.
The
Japanese population of California by immigration has increased about
50,000 since 1907, when the agreement was made, and most of these
immigrants are laborers. Each laborer forms a separate violation of the
"gentlemen's agreement."
"Picture brides" have been imported
at the rate of over 4,000 a year for the past five years, most of them
being laborers and performing the work of men in field or shop, in
addition to bearing children, at the rate usually of one a year. In
1918 the total Japanese immigration was 10,168, of which over one-half,
5,347, were females. In 1900 in the United States there were 25 male
Japanese to 1 female. In 1910 there were 7 males to 1 female. At
present it is estimated that the proportion is about 3 to 1.
"PICTURE BRIDES" AS LABORERS.
The
"picture bride," when she is a laborer, is a direct violation of the
"gentlemen's agreement." As a mother, she is a cunning subterfuge for
evading the intent of the agreement and increasing the Japanese
population of the United States. Notwithstanding the fact that the
Japanese females are outnumbered by the males in this country about 3
to 1, while among the white races the sexes are about equal in number,
the birth rate per thousand among the Japanese in Sacramento and other
cities in California is five times as great as among the white
population.
In the 10 years following the adoption of the
agreement Japanese births in this State multiplied twentyfold. Last
year they numbered 4,365. The Chinese births in California are less
than one-tenth of the Japanese, and their death rate is twice as large
as the birth rate. The Japanese birth rate is between four and five
times as great as their death rate.
MANY JAPANESE ARE NATIVES.
There
are in California about 25,000 Japanese native sons and daughters, each
one claiming the right to hold land through a guardian, and many of
them utilized for that purpose.
Los Angeles is the most
populous county in the State, and in that county in May, 1919, outside
of incorporated cities, the number of Japanese births was one-third of
the aggregate births among all white races, as noted in the Los Angeles
Times of June 30, 1919.
In Sacramento County, outside of
Sacramento city, in 1918 the Japanese births exceeded the white births.
The 1910 census showed eight times as many whites as Japanese in that
district.
WHAT JAPANESE PRESS URGES.
Since my
articles have called attention to these matters there has been
continuous comment in the Japanese newspapers of the State. One of them
published in San Francisco urged the Japanese to import as many "picture brides" and secure as much California land as possible before
restrictive measures are adopted by the State or the Nation.
INCREASE OF JAPANESE UNDER EXISTING CONDITIONS.
The
official figures presented above will prepare the reader to consider
seriously and to credit the astounding statement that tables carefully
compiled show that under existing conditions the Japanese population of
this country will increase so rapidly that in a few generations they
will drive the whites out of California, and in much less than 200
years can annex the United States as a principality of Japan, the
Americans and their descendants outnumbered, driven to the wall through
economic competition, and Koreanized.
GULICK PLAN MEANS GREAT INFLUX.
Under
the Gulick plan, as urged upon Congress, the Japanese immigration would
be increased in a few years beyond the present figures. Careful tables
of increase of Japanese population in the United States under that
plan, and assuming that the excess of births over deaths will be only
one-half of that now shown, place the total in 1923 at 318,600; in 1933
at 543,000; in 1943 at 875,000; in 1963 at 2,000,000; in 2003 at
10,000,000; in 2063 at 100,000,000.
Examination of results
secured by Japanese colonization in Hawaii and California will convince
anyone that long before the last date named the whites would have been
driven to the wall either by economic competition or by force of arms,
and that the world's glorious Republic would have become an appendage
of Japan. Under operation of the "gentlemen's agreement," as now
working, the result would be equally certain, but it might take a
little longer.
A year ago this statement would have been
laughed at. Remember, today, that the facts and figures upon which it
is based have been before the American public and before the House
Committee on Immigration since June of this year and neither Sidney L.
Gulick nor any other champion of the Japanese, or of the policy of
opening our ports to them, has attempted to disprove their correctness.
A NONASSIMILABLE RACE.
The
numbers of the Japanese and the manner in which they will inevitably
increase in this country form but one factor, however, in the menace
which they offer.
They do not assimilate. The melting pot
does not affect them as it does in time the most refractory of the
European races. They remain always Japanese. They maintain their racial
purity more jealously than any other race which comes to our shores.
They preserve their ideals, their customs, their language, their
loyalty to Japan, even when born here, partly because Japan never
ceases to hold them as Japanese citizens, and partly because they are
taught in Japanese schools by Japanese teachers who frequently speak no
English, and have no sympathy with American ideals. It is a dangerous
experiment to attempt to make good American citizens of such material.
ILLUSTRATED IN HAWAII.
The
nature of this problem is well illustrated in Hawaii. Concerning the
lesson taught there, Sidney L. Gulick himself declared in 1914, in his
pamphlet "Hawaii's American-Japanese problem":
"If, as
Asiatics, they maintain their traditional conceptions of God, nature,
and man; of male and female; of husband and wife; of parent and child;
of ruler and ruled; of the State and the individual, the permanent
maintenance in Hawaii of American democracy, American homes, and
American liberty is impossible."
The standards of living of
the Japanese are much lower than ours. Unless we are willing to work
12, 15, or 18 hours a day, to forego recreation and pleasure, and the
comforts of American homes, and to have our women slave in the fields,
and incidentally bear a child a year, then it is hopeless for us to
attempt economic competition with the Japanese. In such a competition
in this country the white race, even the industrious, hard-working
immigrants from Europe, must inevitably go to the wall.
CONCENTRATE THEIR NUMBERS.
The
Japanese do not distribute themselves throughout the country so as to
make a weak solution of Japanese in a great reservoir of Americans.
They concentrate their numbers in those localities and industries where
most profit can be secured with least effort and least discomfort, and
have a cooperation which is more effective than that shown by any
American labor union. In this State, for instance, there are, say,
100,000 Japanese in a total population of 3,600,000, but three-quarters
of that 100,000 are found in 7 of our 58 counties, and concentrated
generally in a few favored localities in those counties.
Under
such policy, and with their economic advantages and the assistance
received from their Government through banks and commissions, it is
comparatively easy to conquer one district, drive the whites therefrom,
and let newcomers concentrate in other localities. So, in time, the
favored spots of the State must succumb -- and, unless the remedy is
applied, the favored spots of other States.
THREE ELEMENTS OF MENACE.
Here
are before us, then, the three elements which make Japanese immigration
such a grave danger to the country:
First. They do not, and perhaps
never will, assimilate.
Second. They have a birth rate so
much greater than the whites that time only would be necessary for them
to outnumber the whites in communities to which they are admitted.
Third.
Their low standards of living, cooperation, and thrift give them
advantages in economic competition against which it is hopeless for
whites to compete.
HAWAII CONTROLLED BY JAPANESE.
Let
us glance, now, at what the Japanese, because of the factors named,
have already accomplished under the American flag. A brief outline of
the facts, coupled with the undisputed figures as to the rate at which
their numbers will increase under existing conditions, furnishes
conclusive reply to those who insist that the danger is a fancied and
not a real one, and that we can afford to wait until it matures further.
Hawaii
is under the American flag, but it has been practically conquered by
the Japanese. Half the entire population of the Territory is now
Japanese, and they number four times as many as those of any other
race. They boast in their newspapers that by the votes of native-born
Japanese they will hold the balance of power as between Republicans and
Democrats before 1933, and it is equally certain that within a
generation they will outvote a combination of all other races in the
Territory. Their influence is already so great, in advance of the
actual voting strength, that they defeated a bill before the
Territorial legislature in June of this year which would have forced
teachers in Japanese and other foreign-language schools to know enough
of the English language and American civics and history to teach the
young American citizens some of their duties and obligations. The
Japanese teachers do not fulfill these requirements.
The Japanese naturally control a number of industries in Hawaii, in which white or native labor was formerly employed.
CALIFORNIA FOLLOWING HAWAII.
What
has already happened in Hawaii is now in progress in California. Look
at Florin and Walnut Grove, in Sacramento County, and various
communities in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, where the white
population has already been displaced. Look at the orchard districts
now largely dominated by Japanese, at blocks of thousands of acres now
being colonized by them; note their increased ownership of land through
dummy corporations and native-born Japanese under guardians; see their
increased control of the rice fields; consider the Imperial Valley;
recall entire districts in the fine residence portion of San Francisco
and other cities from which the whites have been driven. Will we heed
the lesson?
In Oregon a large tract of 11,000 acres has just
been purchased by Japanese, on which these people will concentrate for
growth of garden truck, largely potatoes.
A NATIONAL PROBLEM.
In
Seattle, 47 per cent of all hotels and lodging houses, including the
big, pretentious hotels, are owned by the Japanese, and a corresponding
number of restaurants, garages, commission houses, and small business
enterprises.
In the Hood River apple district of Oregon they
have already secured control of a large percentage of the orchards. In
Colorado they own practically the Rocky Ford melon business, with
control of 85 per cent of the district and the crop.
It
should be apparent to the intelligent investigator that what has
already happened in Hawaii is now taking place in California; that
unless drastic remedies are at once applied existing conditions will in
a comparatively short time produce here such results as are noted
there; that other favored sections of the Pacific Coast States will
suffer in turn; and gradually, as the incoming yellow tide increases,
first the most favored districts of other States must succumb, and
ultimately all desirable portions of all States.
The
problem, therefore, is not a California problem, or even a Pacific
coast problem, but a national problem. Adequate relief can come only
from the Federal Government, which has, unwittingly, imposed the burden
upon us and blindly permitted it to grow.
PROPAGANDA FOR INCREASE OF THE EVIL.
As
proof of the necessity for immediate action and continued vigilance in
the matter, it should be remembered that for over five years Japan
conducted a wonderful propaganda in the United States, through Sidney
L. Gulick, for the purpose of securing admission of all Asiatics to
this country as immigrants and citizens on the same plane as Europeans,
and taking away from the States any authority in handling matters in
connection with the rights of aliens.
Gulick secured
indorsement of that policy from the Federal Council of the Churches of
Christ in America, the most powerful church federation in the country,
comprising over 100,000 churches and 17,000,000 members, and was
employed by the council under salary while he conducted his propaganda.
He
organized, a year or more ago, the League for Constructive Immigration
Legislation, for the ostensible purpose of protecting American
citizenship by restricting undesirable immigration, and secured the
names of nearly 1,000 prominent Americans in the various States of the
Union as sponsors for the league. He formulated a bill which he
presented in the name of the league to the House Committee on
Immigration in June of this year, which bill proposed to safeguard
immigration by limiting it to a percentage of those various races who
now claim, or may hereafter claim, American citizenship.
HOW SCHEME WOULD WORK.
Incidentally,
however, that bill was a framework in which reposed his main
objective -- throwing open our ports to the admission of Asiatics as
immigrants and citizens. As before stated, the bill would permit the
admission of more Japanese than now come in under the violations of the
"gentlemen's agreement." And under its provisions, too, we could not
admit one Belgian, Spaniard, or Portuguese unless we admitted from 100
to 600 Germans; nor 1 Chinaman unless we admitted 10 Japanese.
It
is gratifying to know that most of Gulick's committee of 1,000, on
learning the facts, have repudiated the league; and that his measure is
dead in Congress because he could not make reply to those facts, a few
of which are herein quoted.
But Senator Dillingham, of
Vermont, has introduced in the Senate, and had referred to the Senate
Committee of Immigration, a similar bill, which, while it does not
admit Asiatics to citizenship, would enormously increase the number of
Japanese who could come in as immigrants, not only above the number now
coming, but even above the number which could come under the Gulick
plan.
THE OBVIOUS REMEDIES.
Through lack of
understanding of the subject, and the impression that the Californians
are influenced in this matter simply by race prejudice, Congress and
the East have been disinclined in years past to consider the menace of
Japanese immigration seriously. Shantung and Siberia have given these
doubters cause for thought as to Japan, and they are now in a receptive
mood. It is the psychological moment for spreading the light of facts
throughout the Nation, and creating a mental impression which will
stand against Japanese propaganda in the future, and afford substantial
basis for remedial action by Congress.
It is through the
weak complaisance and the blindness of our Federal Government, and the
bad faith of Japan, that the burden has been placed upon us. It is only
through Federal action that adequate remedies can be applied. And
concerted effort should be made to secure remedial legislation before
the menace has become too deeply intrenched. The remedies which I have
suggested are:
First. Cancellation of the "gentlemen's agreement."
Second. Exclusion of "picture brides."
Third. Absolute exclusion of Japanese, with other Asiatics, as immigrants.
Fourth. Confirmation and legalization of the principle that Asiatics shall be forever barred from citizenship.
Fifth.
Amendment of section 1 of Article XIV of the Federal Constitution,
providing that no child born in the United States of foreign parents
shall be eligible to American citizenship unless both parents are
eligible to such citizenship.
TIME TO FIGHT "PEACEFUL PENETRATION."
The
facts properly marshaled and considered in their relation to each other
furnish striking evidence of the undoubted policy of Japan to secure,
by "peaceful penetration," a place in this favored land for an
unlimited number of her people, and ultimately to obtain through them
absolute control of the country. In this matter economic conquest would
be quite as effective as conquest by force of arms.
The
facts, too, show that we have to deal with a cunning, persistent, and
implacable antagonist, much our superior in adroitness and in the use
of diplomatic subterfuges; and that the Nation can not be saved without
the creation of a public sentiment which will put backbone into the
Federal administration, which in the past has permitted Japan to cajole
and bluff it on any and all issues.
Japan and her friends
have intimated that there will be a serious break, and possibly war,
between the two nations if we insist on protecting our people and the
future of the Republic by any such restrictive measures as are herein
suggested -- the only ones which will prove effective. That has ever
been the insidious suggestion from Japan, supplementing her plea that
the pride of her people must be respected.
IF JAPAN FAIR, NO WAR.
If
Japan is fair in this matter, there will be no war, for our position is
not only just and similar to that of Japan in Asia, but is necessary
for our future welfare. If Japan insists on being unreasonable, is it
not about time that Americans should demand that the Federal
administration govern this country for the benefit, present and future,
of Americans, and not in accordance with the request or threat of a
foreign nation?
Our present problem has been created by our
weak yielding to such demands, or threats, in the past. Japan does not
attempt such tactics with Canada or Australia, which rigorously exclude
Japanese under the same laws as govern the immigration into those
countries of other Asiatics.
This is our country. It rests
with us to say whether we shall share it with the yellow races or not.
It is time that we spoke in unmistakable terms to the world on this
subject, and that we back up our announced policy in anyway necessary
for its maintenance.
THE JAPANESE IMMIGRATION PROBLEM.HOW IT CONCERNS LABOR THROUGHOUT THE UNION.
(By V. S. McClatchy, publisher Sacramento Bee. From Organized Labor, San Francisco, Sept. 6, 1920.)
When
the House Immigration Committee was in the State of Washington in July
and early August investigating the Japanese immigration problem, it
invited organized labor, at both Seattle and Tacoma, to express itself
on the subject. There seems to have been no authorized or formal
response to that request. One member of organized labor, however, who
was before the committee, in reply to a direct question from
Congressman Raker, declared that organized labor in Tacoma and Seattle
was not interested in the question sufficiently to appear before the
committee, because in both places members of organized labor were
employed by the Japanese on the docks and had wages and good treatment.
From
others the intimation came that years ago, when organized labor in the
Pacific Northwest had been eager to fight Japanese immigration, it had
been given no support by the community generally, and now it was
disposed to permit the fight to be carried on by the farming and
commercial interests that had commenced to feel the pinch.
Whether
either or both of these expressions supply the reason, it is evident
that organized labor in the Pacific Northwest has not yet given formal
indication that it recognizes the menace of Japanese immigration and is
anxious to do its part in affording necessary protection to the Nation.
Its attitude in this matter is so diametrically opposed to that of
organized labor in California that the difference must be ascribed to a
difference in local conditions, which in one case had encouraged or
forced a thorough investigation of the problem and in the other has
hidden from those most vitally concerned the realization of the grave
menace involved.
It is certain that organized labor is no
less patriotic and no less mindful of its own interests in Washington
than in California; it will not knowingly sell its birthright for a
mess of pottage served on the Japanese docks, nor will it deliberately
encourage or permit conditions which must lead in time to control of
this white man's country by an alien, nonassimilable race of yellow
people.
CALIFORNIA'S OPPORTUNITY FOR INVESTIGATION.
Wherein
then lies the difference in conditions which has made California labor
as well as California farmers and business men, fraternal
organizations, civic bodies, women's clubs, and unattached individuals
practically a unit in fighting this evil with all the State's power,
and demanding of the Federal Government that it exert its authority to
put an end to it?
California has better opportunity to study
the problem, and has improved that opportunity during the past year to
the limit. In this State reside more than 100,000 Japanese, two-thirds
of all those in continental United States, twice as many as have
located in the 47 other Sates combined, and in this State the 100,000
have concentrated in a few localities where their plans of peaceful
penetration can secure best results with least effort, 75 per cent
being found in 7 of our 58 counties.
Then, for a year past,
California has cast the limelight of searching investigation on the
effects of Japanese immigration here, and the efforts to deceive the
American people in regard thereto through clever propaganda. In June,
1919, the writer's statement before the House Immigration Committee
exposed the inevitable effects which must follow the success of Sidney
Gulick's plans for extending privileges as immigrants and citizens to
Asiatics, through passage of his percentage Immigration bill. Hearings
before both House and Senate Immigration Committees in September and
October, 1919 drew still further attention thereto. The American Legion,
the Native Sons of the Golden West, organized labor, two exclusion
leagues (one operating above the Tehachapi and one below), and other
instrumentalities took up the fight in California, and as a result we
will vote in November on an initiative protective measure. In Congress
Senator Phelan and other members of the California delegation were most
active.
Under instructions of the State legislature, the
State Board of Control made an exhaustive study of the effects of
Japanese immigration in California, and presented the result thereof in
an admirable and convincing report, given to the public in August of
this year. The calm and deliberate statement of facts made therein will
convince any intelligent and unprejudiced American investigator. Upon
this statement Gov. Stephens based his letter to the State Department
at Washington, presenting in a dignified manner the reason why the
Federal Government should at once protect the States of the Union,
including California, from the grave menace threatening them. And to
cap all, there have been the hearings in California of the House
Committee with the opportunity to present the various findings on the
subject in proper shape for official consideration.
What,
then, are the conclusions drawn from this assembling of facts and data,
which have unified the State on this issue? And particularly, wherein
is organized labor so much concerned in the result?
WHITE LABOR AND THE JAPANESE.
What
the Japanese will do to white labor whenever the opportunity offers,
and whenever the rewards are sufficiently enticing, is well
demonstrated by the recent incident at Turlock, in Stanislaus County,
which came under observation of the Congressional Committee, and was
given wide publicity in the newspapers. There, in July of this year,
1,000 Japanese were brought in to take the handling of the cantaloupe
crop away from white labor, the moving reason being that white labor
was receiving 35 cents a crate for the service, while the Japanese
offered to do it for 26 cents. As a result 600 white laborers, many of
them returned soldiers, were thrown out of work and compelled to
scatter, thus defeating the plans of the Fruit Workers' Association,
which had so organized its white labor, in an effort to solve the
migratory labor problem, that such labor could move from section to
section as the various crops matured and had to be handled. Among those
who testified before the Congressional Committee on the subject was
Charles Perry Taylor, general organizer of the American Federation of
Labor, who was attempting to aid the white workers in their defensive
fight against the Japanese.
If the whites are permanently
driven out of the labor field in the Turlock cantaloupe district,
results will follow there similar to those which have obtained in the
Rocky Ford melon district in Colorado, and which have been noted in
various districts in California. First, Japanese wages will rise to and
beyond the price before asked by the whites; next, the Japanese will
decline to handle the crop as wage earners and will insist on leases,
or crop contracts; and finally, they will secure entire control of crop
and district through lease or ownership, or both.
Our
pro-Japanese friends insist that Japanese do not compete with whites
because they insist on high wages. They do demand high wages, after the
whites are driven out of business, or for any reason are not available
as competitors.
And so, members of organized labor, now
complacently enjoying good wages and good conditions under Japanese
employment on the docks of Seattle and Tacoma, will find their jobs
melt away when the Japanese are sufficiently strong to supplant them by
Nipponese. How many white men are now employed in any capacity whatever
on the big Japanese liners traveling between San Francisco and the
Orient? There used to be many.
These, however, are only
immediate and local results of Japanese immigration. Organized labor is
intelligent enough and broad enough to recognize that these results,
serious as they may be, are not so grave as the general results to the
white community and to the American Nation which must follow fruition
of Japan's carefully laid plans to colonize the richer portions of the
United States. Labor, which is dominant in Australia, has been
far-sighted in entirely excluding the Japanese, with other Asiatics,
from that land.
SECURING CONTROL OF DISTRICTS.
Under
the Japanese plan of peaceful penetration, effort is concentrated in
one or a few localities until control thereof is secured. As the
Japanese increase in numbers through immigration and birth, other
favored localities will be invaded and control wrested from the whites.
Turlock provides a glimpse of the initial stage. In this State, in the
Imperial Valley, Florin, portions of Merced, Los Angeles, Fresno,
Sacramento, Placer, and other counties are seen various progressive
stages leading up to absolute control, with thinning out of the white
population.
What we see very clearly in this State has now
commenced in Seattle; in the Hood River, and other districts of Oregon;
in Colorado and Nebraska; in western Texas and eastern New Mexico; in
northern Florida and notices of progress made and advantages offered in
these various localities, as published in the Japanese newspapers,
encourage migration of newly arriving or unsettled Japanese to these
growing communities.
So that what has already happened in
Hawaii, where more than half of the total births and school
registrations are now Japanese, what is happening in California, and
what has commenced in a few other States is simply a forecast of what
will inevitably take place in every State in the Union where there is
rich agricultural land unless the Japanese immigration movement be
stopped.
Remember that it is hopeless for the white race to
meet the Japanese in economic competition; not even the thrifty races
of northern Europe can do that. Their lower standards of living, their
willingness to work long hours (both men and women), their cooperation
and concentration, their thrift and industry, combine to make the
Japanese easy victors in such a competition.
THE JAPANESE BIRTH RATE.
Their
birth rate is another factor of danger pointing inevitably to the time
when they will conquer this country by sheer force of numbers, if
present conditions continue. The California State Board of Health
announces that for 1919 the Japanese birth rate per 1,000 in California
was 46.44, and that of all other races, including whites, only
16.59 -- nearly three to one. This in face of the fact that among Japanese
in California the adult males outnumber the females three and one-half
or four to one, while among other races the proportion is about one to
one.
Give the Japanese an equal proportion of females, as
was urged before the Congressional Committee, and their birth rate per
thousand would be 10 times that of the whites. Dr. J. L. Pomeroy,
health officer of Los Angeles County, declares that on the basis of the
established birth rates the Japanese would equal the whites in number
in California in 100 years if no further immigration of any kind came
into the State. At present the whites outnumber the Japanese about 30
to 1.
AN UNASSIMILABLE RACE.
What adds
immeasurably to the menace is that the Japanese, with their
overwhelming birth rate and their advantages in economic competition,
are unassimilable, and if they increase greatly in number in this
country, or in any section of it, must create another race problem. For
biological reasons, the races differing so materially, assimilation by
intermarriage is impracticable, and probably not good for either race.
To create an alien, unassimilable community in our midst is certain to
lead to trouble. When that community is composed of members of a
war-like nation like Japan the trouble would be serious. Similar
trouble would occur if 100,000 Americans were to establish themselves
in Japan on agricultural lands and in business communities. In such
case the trouble would come much sooner, because the Japanese would be
less tolerant.
The Japanese, with few exceptions, can not
and will not assimilate, even in ideals and socially, because of
national inhibition through heredity and teaching, because of
inclination and religion, and because their Government insists that the
Japanese, even when born under our flag, is a Japanese citizen, owes
full allegiance as such, and must be educated along the lines of a true
subject of the Mikado. No people who believe that their Mikado is the
living God, to whom all subjects owe their very existence, and who hold
that, because of superiority, their mission is ultimately to conquer or
lead the nations of the earth, as do the Japanese, can be counted on to
furnish good material for our brand of American citizenship. And if
they can not make good citizens, their presence in large numbers is a
menace.
WHAT CONTROL OF PRODUCTION MEANS.
It is
evident that labor and all other interests of the nation are dependent
upon production in the agricultural districts. A general strike among
the farmers of the country would drive the city workers to starvation.
It is equally evident that no nation can afford to permit control of
its agricultural production to pass into the hands of an alien, virile,
unassimilable race, which it has permitted to peacefully penetrate the
country. But that is precisely what is happening in certain districts
of the United States, notably California, where the Japanese are fast
securing control of the rich lands through ownership and lease.
It
will inevitably happen in all districts of the nation unless the
necessary remedy is speedily applied. In some of our counties,
orientals, largely Japanese, already control from 50 to 75 per cent of
the rich irrigated lands.
CALIFORNIA'S DEFENSIVE MEASURE.
California's
citizenship, including labor solidly massed, has sprung to the defense
in promoting an initiative measure -- No. 1 on the November ballot -- which
will prevent for the future either lease or ownership of our
agricultural lands by aliens negligible to citizenship. The majority
rolled up for that measure will undoubtedly be a very large one -- but let
it be remembered that the larger the majority the more convincing will
be the demonstration to the people of other States, who have not had
our opportunity for investigation and conclusion. It will bear witness
to our deep conviction that Japanese immigration is a most serious
national problem, grave beyond measure, and calling for immediate
action; that it menaces labor, and all interests of the nation alike,
and that the Federal Government, in protection of other States, as well
as California, should act at once.
That initiative measure,
to which Japan is offering strenuous diplomatic objection, at
Washington, accords to Japanese in this State all rights as to
agricultural lands which an American may enjoy in Japan -- it insures to
the Japanese all rights conferred by treaty, but specifically withholds
rights not so granted, where they concern agricultural lands. The
various provisions are designed to put a stop to the deliberate
violation of the intent of the alien land law of 1913.
By
what right do Japan and the pro-Japanese Americans demand that we shall
grant -- to our ultimate undoing -- rights to Japanese in California which
Japan wisely forbids to Americans in Japan?
Let every
red-blooded Californian remember that the Japanese deliberately and
frankly announce their intention of colonizing this country, whether we
like it or not. The following extracts are from an editorial published
in October, 1919, in Shin Sekai, The New World, a leading Japanese
newspaper of San Francisco, and translated for the Sacramento Bee:
"Let us consider the land law. Supposing... that we Japanese were
prohibited from owning or cultivating land... If we can not
conveniently do so in California we shall go to other States and devise
some plan. Even the laws of California are not forever unchangeable."
"The day will come when the real strength of the Japanese will make a clean sweep of all laws."
"Even the Kaiser's Empire was destroyed when its time came."
"What can Phelan and Inman... do to stop the forward movement of our Yamato race?"
Californians,
in this trying situation, owe it to themselves and to the cause to
countenance no overt or unfriendly act against the Japanese, but to
express themselves unmistakably at the polls and by other legal
methods, to the end that the necessary remedies may be applied by State
and Nation. Any less decided course must earn for us the contempt of
those familiar with the facts.
WHITE GIRLS DISCHARGED AND REPLACED BY JAPANESE.Yesterday
the Bee published a special from Auburn giving authentic particulars of
the dismissal from employment by the Placer Packing Association of
eight or nine white girls and the hiring of six Japanese men to take
their places.
Manager Culper of the Association was quoted
as saying that it was more than satisfied with the change; that the
white girls had worked only 8 hours a day, while the Japanese were
willing to work 15 hours, or even more, on a pinch, and were packing
twice or two and a half times as many boxes in a day as the girls had
done.
His only excuse -- if it be an excuse -- was that the
packing plant was too small to permit of hiring as many girls as would
be needed to handle all the fruit coming in, arid he said that if there
were more room no Japanese would have been employed.
This is
a case highly illustrative of the evil and danger of Japanese
immigration, and of the impossibility of white competition with
Japanese or other oriental labor without degradation to low Asiatic
standards of living.
With Japanese willing to work 15 hours or even more a day, what show has white labor to compete with them?
California
has laws to protect girls and women from being obliged to work too many
hours a day, but there is no protection against such health-wrecking
competition as this.
Accordingly, where Japanese or other
oriental laborers are to be had, there is nothing but public sentiment
to prevent their getting jobs away from white girls and women, as in
this Placer County instance.
The Placer Packing Association, in displacing white girls by Japanese men, has not distinguished itself in public estimation.
But
it has at least furnished a striking and historic example of the need
of the Oriental Exclusion League and of all such measures of
self-protection as California has taken or is seeking in this regard.
WHITE GIRLS ARE REPLACED BY JAPANESE.
AUBURN PACKING PLANT DISMISSES AMERICAN HELP; MANAGER PRAISES OUTPUT OF THE ORIENTALS.
AUBURN; PLACER COUNTY, June 28.
Eight
or nine white girls employed in the plant of the Placer Packing
Association here have been dismissed and Japanese laborers taken on to
fill their places.
The association, of which F. Culper is
manager, and which includes in its membership J. A. Teagarden, A. Ammon
and other prominent fruit growers, is more than satisfied with the
results of the change. This is according to Culper.
TURN OUT MORE FRUIT.
Culper
stated to-day that the girls only turned out from 200 to 250 packages
of fruit a day, while the six orientals who took their places are
packing from 400 to 500 packages a day.
Culper declared that
this was possible because the white girls could work only 8 hours a day
while the Japanese work 15 hours a day and more in a pinch.
"It was simply a case of moving the fruit," Culper said.
ONLY 10 STALLS.
Culper
stated that the plant is a small one with only 10 stalls at most for
the fruit packers.
"We simply did not have the room to employ enough
white help to pack the fruit as it came in," was his explanation. "If we
had room for 30 people to work in the packing house, no Japanese would
be employed."
HIGHER BIRTH RATE URGED FOR JAPANESE"BEGET" IS THE MOTTO FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF THE YAMATO RACE IN UNITED STATES.
(From Sacramento Bee, Oct. 24, 1919.)
Abolishment
of birth control, and immediate population of America with Japanese, is
the principal step looking toward the solution of the so called
Japanese American problem, according to a writer signing himself
Kochiku Higashi, in Nichi Bei, the Japanese American, a San Francisco
Japanese newspaper. The writer, who by his use of language shows
himself to be highly educated, stakes everything upon the plan to crowd
this country with Japanese.
He deals at length with the
glories of Japanese civilization and says Americans have suddenly
changed their admiration of Japan to fear of that country.
AMERICA'S VILLAINOUS PLOT
"They
wish to kick Japan down to international isolation," he says, "and
confine development of her people to one small island country. Truly it
is a laughable and villainous plot.
"Let those who live in
separate houses immediately get together in one house. Let newly
married people at once adopt sons and have them registered. Let married
people without children adopt sons and bring them immediately a lovely
bride. And let everyone who has dependent relatives bring them here.
Awake -- even we can not expand our country's borders, let us expand
with all speed the race of which we are justly proud.
"Well,
as I am about to leave Los Angeles for the East, I venture earnestly to
advise our beloved fellow countrymen on this coast as follows: 'Beget!
Beget! Beget!' I have many things to advise our good countrymen, more
than could be counted on my 10 fingers, but at this time I emphasize
this one thing, leaving the others for another occasion.
"What
I mean is simply this, I firmly believe it is only by the propagation
of Yamato race by every good Japanese that we can solve the
anti-Japanese, nay American Japanese problem. And this is the
conclusion (without giving explanations and arguments) to which I have
arrived during the past year. For the next 10, 20, 50, or 100 years,
beget, beget. Children, boys and girls, will be treasures more valuable
to your countrymen than hundreds of millions of gold. And at the same
time, they are the supreme treasures for the development of our race."
OFFICIAL DECLARATION OF THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT ON THE SUBJECT OF EXPATRIATION.(Correspondence of the Associated Press.)
Tokyo, September 15.
A
relatively small number of American-born Japanese have applied to the
Japanese consulate at San Francisco for expatriation, or removal of
Japanese citizenship, but the cases of refusal of expatriation have
been few in proportion to those where permission has been granted,
according to a statement to the Associated Press by the Japanese
foreign office.
In view of the interest surrounding the
question of "dual citizenship" which was brought up at the recent
sessions at San Francisco of the Congressional Committee on
Naturalization and Immigration, the correspondent requested the foreign
office to furnish an authentic statement explaining the Japanese
viewpoint with reference to petitions from Japanese in California and
Hawaii for release from their Japanese citizenship.
Y.
Matsuoka, who was attached to the Japanese delegation at the Paris
peace conference, and who is now the active head of the bureau of
information, acted as spokesman for the foreign office, after several
days investigation of the subject at issue.
Taking up the
testimony of Rev. Albert W. Palmer, of Honolulu, at the San Francisco
Inquiry that several thousand Hawaiian-born Japanese had signed a
petition asking Japan to release them from Japanese citizenship so that
they might be privileged to exercise full American citizenship without
"dual citizenship," Mr. Matsuoka said that the truth is that the
Japanese section of the Legion of Honolulu in Hawaii presented, in the
name of its secretary, a petition to the Japanese Government to urge
the latter to take the necessary steps to modify the provisions
contained in the Japanese law of nationality, so that they might not
have dual citizenship. He added: "This petition came from persons above
the age of 17 years and from men enrolled in the American army under
the selective service law of 1917. Let me say that the Japanese
Government replied to this petition that the modification of the law of
nationality as desired by the petitioners is not an easy matter for the
moment, as it requires special legislative preparations." Mr. Matsuoka
said that the Tokyo government had received no general applications
from Japanese children in Hawaii, but if such arrived each case would
be treated on its merits in accordance with the law.
This
led to the question of age in making the applications. The Japanese law
permits a Japanese boy born abroad to apply for expatriation between
the ages of 15 and 17. A San Francisco Japanese newspaper has been
quoted as saying that a California-born Japanese, living at Port
Angeles, Wash., had been refused expatriation because, although he was
not 17 years of age according to the American method of computation, he
was a little over 17 according to the Japanese method which counts the
months previous to birth.
"Such an information must have
been based upon a misunderstanding," declared Mr. Matsuoka. "It is true
that Japanese custom at home gives the child one year of age at the
moment of birth, but this custom is not followed in our law of
nationality. The method of age computation therein fixed and followed
is quite similar to that of the American law, namely, the age is
computed by the number of months after birth and one year of age is a
full 12 months of earthly existence."
Mr. Matsuoka was asked
about a statement appearing in the official report of the California
State Board of Control on Japanese immigration that Mr. Ishii, the
Japanese vice consul at San Francisco said that not over a dozen
American-born children had signed the "Declaration of losing
nationality" provided by the Japanese law and pointing out that so far
as could be learned none of these have been accepted by the Japanese
Government.
Mr. Matsuoka thought the alleged statement of
Mr. Ishii should be interpreted, as stated above, that only a small
number of Japanese had applied. Some of them were refused, he
explained, for reasons specified in the law of nationality, but he
added: "Against 64 permissions given, there are only 9 cases of refusal
on applications of expatriation made by Japanese in the United States."
"Now
to get down to the nationality law itself," Mr. Matsuoka went on, "let
us see if I can throw any light on this complicated question of dual
citizenship. In the first place, the fundamental of our law known as
No. 66, which was promulgated in May 1899, is that a person who has
acquired a foreign nationality of his own choice loses Japanese
nationality. The law then proceeds to explain under what conditions a
Japanese may be permitted from our standpoint to acquire foreign
nationality, mentions limitations and provides processes. Article 20
bis stipulates that a Japanese subject acquiring foreign nationality by
birth abroad may be expatriated with the permission of the home
minister. In case the person is under 15 the application can be made by
a legal representative; if a minor above 15 the application can be made
with the consent of his legal representative. The obligation to
military service undoubtedly forms a basis for the conditions. Under
the conscription laws of Japan a boy of 17 is liable to military
service. Article 24 of the law we are discussing is designed to prevent
a Japanese subject from shirking military service by expatriation. It
declares that notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding articles,
a male of 17 years or upward does not lose Japanese nationality unless
he has completed active service in the army or navy, or he is under no
obligation to enter into it. But of course when expatriation is granted
the obligation to military service ceases."
Mr. Matsuoka
continued: "Now it may not be useless to give a brief explanation of
the underlying legal principles of our law, because they are entirely
different from those of Anglo-Saxon countries.
"The Japanese
law, like the laws of continental Europe and unlike the Anglo-American
system, recognizes allegiance to the state by reason of blood-descent
and not according to the place of birth. The Japanese law adopts the
so-called jus sanguinis principle on the question of nationality,
contrary to that of jus soli adopted in the American jurisprudence. A
Japanese child is a Japanese if his or her father is a Japanese at the
time of his or her birth, regardless of whether the child is born in
Japan, in the United States, or in Russia. A child whose father is not
known or possesses no nationality is a Japanese, provided that his or
her mother is a Japanese.
"The Japanese law does not follow
the doctrine of perpetual allegiance. Article 20 of the Law of
Nationality recognizes the right of expatriation.
"To remedy
the difficulty which may result from the regulations for a Japanese
born in foreign countries where jus soli is adopted, the Japanese
Government presented in 1916 an amendatory law to the Diet, which
became article 20 bis of the Law of Nationality. The object of this
amendment is to open the way, under the present law of conscription of
expatriation for Japanese boys born in Hawaii or in any States of the
American Union. Article 20 bis provides that a Japanese boy who has
acquired a foreign nationality by reason of his birth, provided he has
domicile in that country, may divest himself of the Japanese
nationality, if his father or other parental authority takes the
necessary step for him before he is 15, or, if he has attained the age
of 15, he may take the step himself with the consent of his father or
other parental authority before he attains the age of 17.
"This
amendment is a concession made in favor of the Anglo-American
territorial principle by Japan, whose legislation on nationality
observes strictly the principle of personal allegiance jus sanguinis.
The aforementioned points may be summarized in a few words:
"That
the Japanese legislation adopts in the matter of nationality the
principle of jus sanguinis, that the Japanese laws of conscription do
not permit the expatriation of a soldier, that a way of expatriation is
opened for Japanese under full 17 years of age, and that this measure
has been introduced into the Japanese law in order to avoid the
difficulties which may result from the difference of legal principles
adopted in different countries of the world.
"The dual
citizenship of a Japanese born in the United States is an inevitable
consequence of the difference of legal principles adopted by Japan and
the United States on the subject of nationality. The Japanese
legislation has given, however, a reasonable facility for the
expatriation of Japanese boys born in foreign countries, including the
United States."
JAPAN INSURES CONTROL OF CALIFORNIA JAPANESE.LOCAL
JAPANESE ASSOCIATION IS REORGANIZED UNDER CONTROL OF JAPANESE
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, WHICH IN TURN IS DOMINATED BY THE CONSUL
GENERAL FOR JAPANESE GOVERNMENT.
(The Sacramento Bee, June 13, 1921.)
In
a statement which appeared in the Sacramento Bee May 18, concerning
personnel of the so-called American League (or Committee) of Justice,
which was active during the initiative campaign last year in favor of
the Japanese, and is now pursuing similar activities in the Eastern
States, reference was made to Col. John P. Irish as a paid attorney of
the Japanese Association of America. The statement was made on behalf
of the Japanese Exclusion League of California by V. S. McClatchy, who
had just returned from Washington, where he had represented the league.
WHAT TAKIMOTO SAYS.
A
letter received by the Bee within the past few days from F. Takimoto,
general secretary of the Japanese Association of America, explains that
this statement as to Col. Irish is incorrect and apparently based upon
misunderstanding; that the reorganized Japanese Agricultural
Association of California has affiliated, but not consolidated, with
the Japanese Association of America, and remains an independent body;
and that the only purpose of affiliation is to assist in carrying out a
program of agricultural development in the State.
"Col.
John
P. Irish was nominated," Secretary Takimoto explains, "as an adviser --
not a counselor or attorney -- and not in any way for hire -- of the
Agricultural Association."
FOR "DISTINGUISHED SERVICE."
The
advisers of the agricultural association, he says, are to be those who
have given distinguished service for the achievements of the
association, and Americans or Japanese of high social standing or
education. Under the by-laws, these advisers may meet several times a
year, "to promote friendly and cooperative relations between Americans
and Japanese in agricultural processes."
Mr. Takimoto also
explains that "the Japanese Association of America has considered plans
for the creation of a legal aid bureau, but the agricultural
association has nothing whatever to do with such plans."
LEAGUE REPRESENTATIVE TALKS.
Mr.
McClatchy stated to a Bee reporter that he accepts Mr. Takimoto's
statement as conclusive that Col. Irish is an unpaid adviser and not a
paid counselor or attorney for the Japanese Agricultural Association.
The assumption that Col. Irish was paid for his services arose, Mr.
McClatchy says, from the fact that the Japanese newspapers explained
the close relations brought about in reorganization between the
Japanese Association of America and the Japanese agricultural
associations, the establishment of a paid legal department whose
services are to be available for the agricultural associations, and a
failure to observe the distinction in translation between advisers and
counselors or attorneys.
WHAT REORGANIZATION MEANS.
The
following details as to the affiliation between the various Japanese
organizations of the State and activities in connection therewith are
gathered from translations of items which appear in Nichi Bei and Shin
Sekai, the two daily Japanese newspapers of San Francisco, during the
past three months:
It is to be remembered first that the
Japanese Association of America is governed, as an instrument of the
Japanese Government, by the Japanese consul general of San Francisco.
That is affirmed by Shin Sekai, the Japanese daily newspaper of San
Francisco, and also by Dr. Yoshi Kuno, Japanese professor of oriental
languages at the University of California. Dr. Kuno has also explained
in published articles how the individual Japanese of the State are kept
subject to control of the various Japanese associations by being
refused consular certificates for personal and business matters unless
they are good, and a particular Japanese never knows how soon he may be
in serious need of such a consular certificate.
Under the
reorganization the agricultural associations have been placed in closer
touch with and under more direct control of the Japanese Association of
America, as shown by the plan adopted.
"INDEPENDENCE" OF AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION.
The
Japanese Agricultural Association of California, of which Toyoji Chiba
is managing director, has not been consolidated, it is claimed, with
the Japanese Association of America, but remains "an independent body."
It has certainly been made in effect a department of the Japanese
Association of America, its selected officers being subject to approval
by the latter organization, its legal affairs being cared for by, and
its revenues going partially to, the greater association.
For
instance, at a meeting of directors of the California Agricultural
Association, May 5, as reported in Shin Sekai, May 6, appointments were
made of new directors to fill vacancies at Sacramento and Stockton, and
also of an assistant manager, Mr. Matsuoka, all "subject to approval of
the board of directors of the Japanese Association America." It was
decided also that each local Japanese association is to choose its
committeemen "after consultation with the board of directors of the
Japanese Association of America." Also the budget of the agricultural
department for the current year was fixed at about $5,000, "subject to
approval of the board of directors of the Japanese Association of
America."
REORGANIZATION MEETING.
On April 5, at
San Francisco, according also to Shin Sekai, under call of the Japanese
Association of America, managing directors of local Japanese
organizations met with officers of the parent association to confer on
various matters, including the new legal department, a new official
organ, immigration, and expatriation. The organizations represented
included those of Marysville, Courtland, Florin, Watsonville, Walnut
Grove, Fresno, San Benito, Lodi, Isleton, Santa Cruz, Vacaville, Kings
County, Intermountain District, Stanislaus, Berkeley, San Mateo,
Northern California, Palo Alto, Stockton, Oakland, and San Francisco.
At
this meeting the opening address was made by Mr. K. Kanzaki, then
secretary of the Japanese Association of America. He explained the
necessity for closer union between that organization and the local
associations in view of the fact that the problems confronting the
Japanese in California are no longer merely local but common to all.
There must be, therefore, cooperation in all plans and purposes.
THE PLAN ADOPTED.
Plans
for various departments were discussed and elaborated, the agricultural
department to include all agricultural associations; a law department
to employ and pay white attorneys, the expense to be met out of a fund
secured from assessments of local organizations, landholders, and
leaseholders, and the legal expenses of all local associations to be
paid therefrom; an educational department, etc. The plan very carefully
provided for control of all local associations by the Japanese
Association of America through a veto on election or appointment of
officers of such associations and through control of their legal
business and through supervision of their finances. These measures of
control are supplemented by the power of the consul general at San
Francisco, as representative of the Japanese Government, in extending
or withholding consular certificates necessary for business and
personal transactions and in making trouble for the individual with the
home Government.
OTHERS NAMED "ADVISERS."
Later
announcements mention, in addition to Col. John P. Irish, others who
have been named as "advisers" either for the Japanese Association of
America or for the Japanese Agricultural Association of California.
These advisers seem to have been taken in large part from members of
the American committee of justice, which was active in opposition to
the initiative alien land law during the campaign last fall. That
committee included Col. Irish, Guy Calden, leading attorney for the
Japanese in cases involving violation of law; L. M. Landsborough, who
held land for Japanese in violation of the law; missionaries, coast
heads of Japanese Sunday schools, large landowners who rent to Japanese
because the profits are greater; and others actuated by personal
feeling or interest in securing for the Japanese rights in opposition
to the law.
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